In My Livingroom
by AuronLives
Summary: What will Rebecca do when the Final Fantasy characters end up in her livingroom? PG-13 for mild language. chapter 11 finally up!
1. Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

Along with putting up chapter four, I also revised and edited the whole story. It was riddled with errors. Damn typos. *takes out machine gun and annihilates grammar check* Worthless piece of crap. So anyway, I do not own final fantasy or any of the characters. I do not exactly own the other characters either, they are all strictly based on my friends and me. I do own Ma'am, however I did have a certain math teacher in mind when creating her *evil grin*. Please don't sue me, you'd be wasting your time unless you desperately wanted a pile of video games, used books, and cheap stuffed animals. Thanks to all who reviewed, I love getting feedback! Now I shall shut up so that you might read my now typo-free story. Enjoy! :-D 

The entire room gleamed with silver and grey. It was huge and busy, full of impatient people pushing their way to the front of lines. Snatches of yelled conversation could be heard over the general babble of too many people talking at once, and a loudspeaker blaring announcements was almost completely lost in the din. The air tasted sterile, and the smell of courtesy peanuts wafted on the air. All the normal sights and sounds of a busy airport in on a Sunday in June.

"What are you guys going to _do_ while we're gone," my ten-year-old brother Freddy asked.

            "Yeah," said his friend Dave. "What on earth is better than going to Legoland, California?"

            "Many things," said my best friend Ana.

            "Yeah, like their stupid band concert," said Allie, Ana's little sister by a year. She had wanted to stay home with us, but Ana's mom told her she had no good reason to bum around Stoneyfield with us for a week and a half. So, despite Ana and my protests in her favor, she was going.

            "It's _regionals _Allie!" cried Robbie, another friend of mine, and the older brother of Dave, with much gusto. "We could all get scholarships from this!"

            "Okay," said Allie reluctantly. "I guess you guys won't do anything much anyway."

            "Guys, come here," called Robbie's mom. "Your babysitter is here to pick you up."

            Many thoughts ran through my mind the first time I saw that babysitter, the most prominent being, oh shit. 

She was the picture of a crabby old lady. She had shoulder-length, white curly hair, a face that was more wrinkled than your average raisin, boobs that sagged to below her waistline, and a chunky granny body, skin filled with crevices deeper than the Grand Canyon. To top it all off, she sported an ugly floral dress and brown orthopedic loafers. She had a sour look on her face that I assumed was from having to look at herself in the mirror every day. Ana moaned, Robbie clung to my arm and fake cried. "Goddamnit", I swore, just loudly enough for Ana and Robbie to hear.

            "Amen to your goddamnit," said Robbie in an equally quiet voice.

"Hello," said the old lady, in a voice that sounded like a cross between Mrs. Doubtfire and Seymour from Final Fantasy. "Well, why don't you tell me your names?"

            She didn't seem so bad. Mrs. Doubtfire wasn't evil. But she was a man. I shuddered. While I debated over whether or not to tell her my real name, Robbie answered the question. "Um, I'm Robbie, this is Ana," he gestured at Ana, "and this is Rebecca," he gestured at me.

            "Don't say "um" all the time! Speak proper English! And what happened to the girls? Were their tongues ripped out?" She snapped.

            "No," I answered. Make that Seymour in some of his more maniacal periods, specifically when he's on the brink of insanity.

            "That was a rhetorical question!" she nearly yelled. I half expected (and hoped) that she would blow out her pacemaker or something with all her shouting. "And you shall refer to your elders as 'sir' or 'ma'am'!" She begun to rant and yell some more.

            "Uh, permission to speak, s-I mean ma'am!" cried Ana, military style. I tried very hard to keep a strait face. So did Robbie, but he failed miserably. 

            "Yes?" said the babysitter. It occurred to me that we didn't know her name, but it also occurred to me that I didn't want to be the sorry soul who asked. "You, boy, Robbie, what are you smirking at!" she barked. Robbie's grin was wiped off his face like rain off of a car's windshield.

            Ana might just have saved his life by saying, "Our families are getting on their flight soon."

            "Yeah," I said quickly, "We'd like to see them off, if that's alright."

            "Fine," snapped the babysitter, who I would forever think of as ma'am. We never did find out her name. "But be quick about it. I haven't got all the time in the world, you know, and I still have to cook you children dinner."

            Robbie opened his mouth to protest to being called a child, but I cuffed him around the head, and murmured out of the corner of my mouth, "c'mon."

            Grudgingly, Robbie obliged, and he followed Ana and me toward our families' gate until we were out of earshot. "I can't believe we have to spend a week with that batty old witch!" Ana shouted.

            "Sshh," Robbie and I hissed.

            "Sorry," said Ana. "But how could our parents do this to us!"

            "Easy," I said, turning to her. "She acts like an adorable little old lady for them, and then becomes 'Commando Ma'am' for us."

            "That…" Robbie said something nasty in Hebrew that would be pointless to translate, because if I did it would be censored. "We're not really going to say goodbye to our parents are we? Because their flight left five minutes ago."

            "No shit, Sherlock," I grumbled. I was in a less than joyful mood, and Robbie was driving me nuts, even more so than usual. "I guess we just keep up the military b.s. until we can get rid of her somehow.

            "How?" groaned Ana, exasperated.

            "We'll think of something." I answered, dejectedly, hoping that I was right.

We headed back toward Ma'am, who eyed us suspiciously. "Damn," I said, snapping my fingers and doing a terrible job of acting disappointed. "We just missed them." As soon as I saw the look on her face, I realized my mistake and regretted it immediately. We all had to listen to a lecture constantly gravitating toward the phrase, "I never want to hear that vulgar language in my presence again!" all the way back to her car (which smelled like a dentist's office) and the entire way home. I had never quite realized how long the trip from the airport to our house actually was.

We were all staying at my house, because it was my mother that had found the babysitter. I thought this would be cool, just me, Ana, Robbie and the house all by ourselves for nearly two weeks. I had obviously forgotten to take the babysitter into consideration.

Finally, we pulled into the driveway. Ma'am's ranting stopped immediately, and she crooned, "we're here!" all Mrs. Doubtfire-like again. "Now, all I need to do is get out that spare key your darling mother gave me and…oh no, where is it?" She dug around frantically in her purse. We watched and waited in the back seat. The first rule of ejecting a babysitter was vigilant observation at all times.

She continued to search for the key muttering things under her breath. "Where did I put it? Did she even give me a key? I could have sworn she did. It's the Alzheimer's, I know it. It runs in the family. That stupid doctor didn't know what he was talking about."

"It's alright," I broke in, having had enough of her ramblings. "I can get in through the garage without a key. I've been doing it for years. No problemo." Ma'am nodded, but still looked rather paranoid and continued talking to herself as she put the parking brake on and followed me to the garage. I kept the cover for the key panel down as I punched in the code from muscle memory. The last thing I needed was a maniac granny that knew how to get into my house.

There was a piece of metal that sat on top of my dad's toolbox in the garage that I could easily pry open the lock with. I was essentially breaking in to my own home, but Ma'am didn't say anything, just followed the three of us through the door, laundry room and bathroom, and into the living room, where she promptly recovered, dropping her luggage on the ground and saying to Robbie, "well, aren't you going to be a gentleman and offer to carry my bags upstairs? And you," she barked, motioning toward me, "this is your house, isn't it? Aren't you going to show me to my room?"

"Sure, right this way," I said, struggling to keep my cool. I contented myself with adding under my breath, "you sexist mental granny."

"What was that?"

"I said, the guest room is right here." Luckily, by that point we had climbed the stairs and were actually standing in front of the guest room. "You can hang your stuff in the closet, and put it in these drawers." Suddenly, I had an idea. I wasn't sure if it would work, and it was only a temporary solution. A lot was being left to luck. But it was a ray of light on an otherwise dark horizon, and I jumped at the chance. "Why don't you unpack, and I'll go down to the kitchen and pour you a glass of milk?" Robbie gave me a searching look behind Ma'am's back. Trust me, I mouthed, and he nodded.

"Oh, that would be so nice, dearie," gushed Ma'am in a voice that would have made me puke if not for the comfort of my plan. "You know, milk has a lot of calcium in it. Calcium makes strong bones, so you don't get osteoporosis! Another disease that runs in my family," she added under her breath and commenced to talk to herself again. I bolted out of the room and down the stairs, Robbie in tow.

"What are you going to do?" asked Robbie breathlessly as I sprinted toward the refrigerator.

 "What do you mean?" breathed Ana. "Do you have a plan, Rebecca?" I nodded at her, and put my finger over my lips, as I fluidly took out the milk and emptied the bottle in the kitchen sink. I then dashed lightly out to the garage and threw the bottle into the recycling bin. Even in a crisis, I'm still obsessed with the environment.

I gingerly closed the laundry room door behind me, so as not to arouse the suspicion of Ma'am, and sat down at the table by Ana and Robbie, who were both wearing expectant looks on their faces. Later, I mouthed, as I heard the heavy, clunking steps of Ma'am coming down the stairs.

I waited until she hobbled into the kitchen before jumping up from my seat, throwing the chair to the floor for dramatic effect. "Alas," I cried, "there seems to be no more milk in the house! What are we going to do? We'll all get osteo…ostea…weak bones and die! What shall we do? What shall we do?" I never have and never will claim to be a good actor in tight situations. I tend to stay cool until the last second, when I usually make a fool out of myself.

            Luckily, there was a bigger fool than me in that kitchen, and she lapped it all up like a thirsty dog. "I'll run out to Shop Rite and get some immediately!" shouted Ma'am, as though she were announcing that she was giving her life to save the world. "Point me to the nearest food store!"

I wrote down directions to a Shop Rite two counties away from us on a neon post-it note and handed it to Ma'am. "Make haste!" shouted Ana. "All of our health is at stake!" I caught her eye and we just barely stopped from laughing. 

"Yes," I muttered under my breath. Everything was going according to plan. Then I turned to Ma'am and said, "When you get back, ring the doorbell three times, so we know it's you, and we'll come to the front door."

"Okay, here I go!" And she rushed out to her car as fast as her little granny legs could carry her. We watched her car pull out of the driveway.

"Good one!" said Ana, slapping me five. "You gave her Shop Rite in Eddison! That gives us three hours, minimum before she gets back."

"Yeah, but who's the psycho now?" Robbie asked me. "Nice drama Porky Pig."

"Shut up," I grunted. "At least I thought of _something_."

"Yeah, but that only gives us three hours!" whined Robbie. "We'll have to think of something else while she's out!"

"I think," said Ana, plopping down on the couch, "that we should chill out, enjoy this while it lasts, and wait for a solution to present itself."

"Amen, Ana," I said, sitting down next to her. "Final Fantasy X, anyone?"

"Yeah, okay," responded Ana, "We can take turns battling."

"Me first," I called, turning on my PS2 and going for the controller.

"No way, chilling was my idea. I go first!" protested Ana. We both dove for the controller, but Ana got there first. "Ha ha!" she laughed, sticking her tongue out at me. "Me first! Wait, it's not working," she said, furiously pressing the start button, but the opening credits kept rolling. I snatched up the other controller, pressed start, and headed into the load screen.

"Ha to you, you had the second controller." Ana crossed her arms, leaned back against the couch and pretended to pout. All three of us laughed, and I chose the second memory card and loaded. I was on my third time through the game. I had last saved in the calm lands, on my way to Mt. Gagazet.

I started to wander around. "I'm gonna find the chocobo lady, and ride to the monster arena to get monster capturing equipment.  Ana, you can go after I get one battle. We'll just capture all the monsters in the calm lands now, so I don't have to go back and do it later when I'm getting the magus sisters." I controlled my mini-Tidus, heading toward the chocobo lady, who was actually quite nearby. As I walked, the whirring on my PS2 started getting louder. I frowned, but figured it was just getting warmed up or something.

"Man, that Playstation is noisy," complained Robbie. "The Gamecube is so much better! It doesn't make any noise at all!" I ignored him and kept walking. The screen seized up suddenly, and the whirring got louder.

"I didn't know there was a cut scene here," said Ana. "I thought you said we were just going to battle."

"That's the funny thing," I told her. "There is no cut scene here." I let it stay like that for a few more seconds, then bent over to hit the reset button on my PS2. I never made it to the button, because there was a bright flash that made me jump back, my heart skipping a beat. I had to close my eyes, the light was blinding. It went away very quickly, so I opened my eyes. And saw seven familiar people, looking stunned, sitting on my living room floor.

"Damn you old man," muttered Tidus.


	2. We'll Think of Something

I didn't scream. I didn't faint. I didn't pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. I just sat there and stared. Ana, however, had not completely lost her wits. "What in the name of…" She trailed off, as Yuna and her six guardians immediately turned to look at her.

"What…where are we? It was Sin, ya? Guys…" You can guess who that was.

"I'll tell you where you are," I said. My voice came out sounding high and freaked out. "You are at 133 Lorien Court, Stoneyfield, New Jersey, The United States of America."

"That's not very helpful," came a third voice. A voice I could recognize in less than a half-second. Auron. The coolest character in the game and, arguably, in video game history. And he was sitting on my family room floor. 

"Well, this is weird," I stated.

"Somehow, I expected to, like, pass out or something if a video game came to life," mused Ana. "But the only unconscious one here is Robbie." Sure enough, Robbie lay sprawled out on the couch, drooling enough to turn the Sahara Desert into a rain forest.

"What do you say when you get dropped into somebody's house by Sin," Tidus wondered aloud.

"Wait a sec…you think _Sin_ brought you here? Dude, you came from a video game. You all did! I beat it twice! I know all your names, where you live, your fighting styles, every single aeon in the game!" They just looked at me like I was crazy. "Don't believe me? I'll prove it!" I snagged the Final Fantasy X box, but there was no cover. "Well, ah…" I pointed to Tidus. "Your name is Tidus, and you're the star player of the Zanarkand Abes! You," I pointed to Rikku, who was next to Tidus, still looking rather stunned and confused. "You're Rikku, daughter of Cid, who is the leader of the Al Behd. You can steal and use items in battle! Your name's Wakka, you're captain of the Besaid Aurochs, and you decided to retire to fully devote yourself to being a guardian. You're Lulu, you're a black mage! You're Kimahri, you're a ronso, and your horn got broken by Yenke and Biran, who teased you because you're smaller. You, you're, you're Auron. You guarded Braska. You…were always my favorite character." I felt my face go red. "And Lady Yuna, the summoner, daughter of high summoner Braska. Pleased to meet you all." I took a deep breath, and leaned back on the couch. I'm ready to pass out now, I thought.

I got seven blank stares in response. "How…" started Lulu, dropping her moogle on the ground in surprise.

"Wait, what in the name of Yevon is a video game?" said Wakka, more puzzled then stunned.

"It's a…it's a, a disk. You put the disk into the console, and the console reads it," I motioned toward my PS2. "Then a picture appears on the screen. It's sort of like a movie sphere, but it's flat, and you control one or more of the people inside. But the people aren't real. They're made up…" I trailed off. The "made up" people were sitting in my living room, right in front of my face. I wasn't stupid enough to think I was dreaming.

"Look, I'll show you," said Ana, sticking the disk into the Playstation. The machine booted up, and went right to browser settings, as if there was no disk. Ana hit the reset button. It did it again. And again.

"Um," said Yuna, looking a bit uncomfortable," I can revive him, if you'd like." She motioned toward Robbie, now snoring loudly.

"Yeah, er, thanks." I sighed. "Look, I'm just so confused. I thought Sin wasn't real. But if it wasn't, how could it bring you here. Did it even bring you here? Or did you come from the game? I just want some answers, and I know I ain't getting them just sitting around here."

Yuna used life on Robbie. It looked just like it did in the game, only real, in front of my face. "Beat that, HDTV," I muttered under my breath. I distinctly noticed Auron looking at me.

Robbie came to quickly, without babbling like a drunken fool. "Check the internet," he said, as though he had been awake the entire time.

"Oh my God Robbie, that is the first smart thing I've ever heard you say, in all my years of knowing you! Follow me!" I gestured, and began running toward the computer upstairs as fast as I could. However, instead of just the familiar patter of Ana and Robbie behind me, I heard nine pairs of feet thundering up the steps at my heels. This would be a bad time to find out the stairs had a weight limit.

Once upstairs, we somehow managed to all squeeze through the hallway and into the office in a reasonable amount of time. The computer was on, and I thanked God for my luck.

"Look." I typed www.ffinsider.com in the URL bar. I got a "this page cannot be displayed" screen. I frowned, and tried www.playonline.com. That loaded, but there was nothing Final Fantasy on the pages, and it was missing from the game list. "Maybe I'm in it deeper than I thought," I murmured, and Auron chuckled.

"Sounds familiar enough, Lady…"

"Oh!" I said jumping up. "Sorry. It's Rebecca. Just Rebecca is fine. And this is Ana, and Robbie." Auron chuckled again. "Oh, would you stop laughing! I'm about to get a hernia here!"

"Now what?" groaned Ana miserably. I thought hard. Then it hit me, and I felt incredibly stupid for not thinking of it earlier.

"The poster! The one in my room! Oh duh! C'mon!" We ran down the hall toward my room.

"Don't let it bite you next time, brilliant," Ana scoffed.

"Oh man." The poster was just a mass of blue, with the words, Final Fantasy X printed at the bottom. "Fat load of help _that_ was."

"Well, we can run over to Sam's, he lives close by, and try out the game in his Playstation," said Ana breathlessly.

"Wait," said Robbie, "You're forgetting about Ma'am!" My heart sank into my feet. I kicked my bedroom wall furiously, trying to get it back in its proper place. All I got was a sharp pain in the foot and a bad temper.

"That's the second smart thing you've ever said, Robbie. You're on a roll. Keep it up, and I might begin to suspect there is another use for your head besides holding your hair up." He rolled his eyes at me.

"Ma'am?" murmured Lulu, sounding befuddled.

"Robbie, how much time do we have before she gets back?" I asked nervously.

"About an hour."

"You can explain, but make it quick," said Ana, sitting down on the floor, and leaning against the wall.

"Okay, everybody just plant your butt somewhere, and I'll tell you." With that, I told them everything. I explained how our families were on vacation, and about region band. I enlightened them on various concepts such as electronics and transportation. I spilled out about Ma'am, what a nutter she was, and how I got rid of her. "And now, we have to ditch the Gestapo granny before she finds out about all of you. Crazy, huh?"

"I've heard crazier," said Tidus, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"So, what do you propose we do about this psychotic babysitter?" Lulu inquired.

"We'll think of something!" Ana, Robbie, Tidus, Auron, Rikku, and I all responded simultaneously.  


	3. Goodbye to the Gestapo Granny

"So," said Lulu, with a hint of sarcasm, ten minutes later, "have you thought of anything yet?"

            "Oh, shut up," groaned Robbie.

            "I'll fry you with firaga," she threatened.

            "Oh, c'mon stop arguing! We need all our heads to think of something, you know?" Rikku said.

            "Good idea," said Tidus. "Instead of just sitting here, we should _talk_ about it. Come on, it's just a babysitter. We can do this!"

            "Just the babysitter from the black lagoon," Ana muttered darkly.

            "Step one is know your enemy," said Kimahri in his low deep ronso voice, making us all jump. I had almost forgotten he was there.

            "Kimahri makes a good point," said Auron. "What do you know about this 'Ma'am'".

            "She's a…" Robbie said the same Hebrew word as before.

            "Was that Al Bhed?" asked Tidus.

            "No," answered Rikku.

            "It was Hebrew," started Robbie. I cut him off before he could give Rikku and Tidus an informational lecture about Hebrew, and/or tell them what he just said meant.

            "She talks to herself," I said.

            "She likes milk," Ana put in.

            I snapped my fingers. "That's it, I got it! She's a hypochondriac! That's what we can use against her, that's what I used in my first plan!" I jumped up, immensely proud of myself.

            "Ya, that's it!" shouted Wakka. "We just make her think she's outta her mind, like the thing you said about the keys."

            Yuna finally spoke. "We can make her think she came to the wrong house, or that she's not _your _sitter, or…"

            "I have a plan," I said grinning evilly, "sort of what Yuna said, but this will work! Auron, we need you." He looked at Yuna who nodded. Auron gave a half smile.

            "Well I have to follow the wishes of my summoner," he said. "What exactly do I have to do?"

            Let's just say Auron was less than pleased with his roll in my plan. Anyone would be. It involved him dressing up like an old man, pretending to be Robbie a long time in the future, and telling Ma'am that Ana and I have been dead for ten years. It had to be Auron, because he was the oldest, and probably the most convincing. Robbie went into my dad's closet and found him a pair of khakis and a button-down shirt. I dug around in my dad's nightstand junk drawer to reveal a pair of giant bifocals that would be perfect. Ana found a cane in the garage from when my mom broke her ankle. To top it all off, we snagged a pair of Ma'am's orthopedic loafers. We hid all of Auron's stuff (including his sword, which worried me slightly) in my closet, and threw some of my old clothes and sheet music on top of it. The sheet music was a nagging reminder of the practicing we should have been doing right then.

            "Eew," shuddered Ana. "Those actually fit you? How big are that monster's feet, man?"

            We all burst out laughing when we saw Auron, even Yuna and Kimahri. Auron looked scornful for a few seconds, but soon he was laughing too. We were all doubled over, cracking up, gasping for breath. He didn't really look like an old man, just himself in the wrong clothes, which is what was so humorous about it.

            Robbie stopped laughing and showed his watch to Lulu, who stopped as well. "We have three minutes."

            "Once she comes, no sound," said Tidus. "We should all hide in the living room."

            The ten of us trooped in, and all found a way to put our backs to the dividing wall. All but Auron, who sat on the couch, picked up a newspaper and pretended to read it.

            "Nice touch," muttered Ana, sending Robbie, Tidus, Rikku, Yuna, and me into giggles.

            "ssshh" whispered Wakka and Lulu. The giggling stopped immediately when we heard three rings. I held my breath, praying that we could pull this off.

            Auron let her ring it three more times before hobbling off toward the door. We could hear what was going on from our position behind the couch. When he finally answered the door, we heard Ma'am say, "Well, it's about…"

            Auron cut into her stupor with, "What do you want? You ring my doorbell six times, never give me any peace!" I tried not to laugh. A doorbell was one of the things Ana, Robbie and I had explained to them. Rikku had named the Al Bhed equivalent for many of the items, and Tidus also knew many of them, but Wakka had continuously muttered about forbidden machina. That was getting on my nerves. I also had to restrain myself because Auron was about as good an actor as Ana or me.

            "I'm looking for Rebecca, Robbie and Ana. I'm the babysitter! Are you their grandfather?" she asked in a lower, sweeter voice. "You look very young." Oh my God. She was flirting with him. I bit my lip until it bled, my whole body vibrating, trying not to laugh. Others were having similar problems, most notably Yuna, Tidus and Rikku. Yuna had her entire fist shoved into her mouth, and was shaking so hard that Lulu and Kimahri had to support her. Both Tidus's and Rikku's whole face had gone deep red, and tears were leaking from their eyes.

            "I'm Robbie," said Auron. "Ana and Rebecca have been dead for years! Now get out of here!"

            "Oh my!" shouted Ma'am, her voice squeaking "What year is it?"

            Auron hesitated, and my heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what year it was now, much less what year it would be sixty or so years later. Luckily, he didn't need to answer, because Ma'am started mumbling again. "It's the Alzheimer's, I know it! That doctor." She said louder, "well, I'd better be getting home now, wait, where do I live? Where I am I now? Who are you? Who am I?!" The sound of old lady feet padding down the driveway, and out onto the side walk could be heard clearly in the dead silence of the house. About eight minutes later, we heard the door shut with a creak. "She's gone," Auron said. We all ran over to the foyer.

            "Dude, you're my favorite character too," yelled Ana, throwing her arms around Auron's neck. I laughed, and Auron looked uncomfortable.

            "Come with me, your stuff's up in my closet." I led Auron up to my room, Tidus and Ana following. "That," I told him on our way up the stairs," was the funniest damn thing I've ever witnessed.

            "You know, I'm not _that_ old," laughed Auron.

            "Well," said Ana, "we won the battle, not the war."

            "What do you mean?" Tidus asked her. "I don't think _she'll_ be coming back."

            "Oh no," said Ana, "she won't be back."

            "Yeah, Ana, you're right," I sighed. "We may have gotten rid of Ma'am, but there's still so much more we have to do. Like find out how you got here. And eventually, how we're going to get you back."

            "I believe you, about the game," said Auron.

            "Really?" Ana and I said together.

            Auron smiled. "Like Tidus said, I've heard stranger stories."

            "Maybe getting the game to work is the key," I said, flipping on the light switch as I entered the room. "We can try that tomorrow." I opened my closet and shuffled around for Auron's stuff.

            "When do your parents get home?" asked Tidus.

            "A week from Thursday," answered Ana. I handed Auron his stuff, and he headed into Freddy's room to put it on.

            "But don't forget, we're not with them because of regionals," I reminded her. "We have practice Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, and Tuesday. The concert is Wednesday night. Our parents get home Thursday night. We still have to get to all the practices and the concert." Auron returned, looking normal again, while I was explaining this. 

            "She left her car here," Tidus said. "I think I could drive it."

            The thought of Tidus driving me somewhere made me uneasy. From the looks on Ana and Auron's faces, they weren't buying into that idea so fast either.

            "Um, we'll think about it," answered Ana, as we headed downstairs to join the others.


	4. Too Much Time on our Hands

We found Robbie, Yuna, Rikku, Wakka, and Lulu seated around the kitchen table. There were only four chairs, plus the one that Robbie had pulled over from the desk, which left Kimahri standing, leaning against the sliding glass door. "Hey," said Robbie. "I was just trying to explain pizza to everybody, and ask if they wanted it."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ana. "Let me give a go at explaining pizza. You want it. Any questions? Good."

"Well said," I told her, smiling. "There's some extra chairs in the basement, no issue there. Robbie, are you capable of ordering Pizza?"

"Of course I am," said Robbie, fake pouting. "You don't trust me?"

"Never have, never will," I laughed. "I'm going to get the chairs, then."

"Kimahri help," said Kimahri. I was getting used to him, and only jumped slightly this time.

"Thanks, Kimahri. That would be great," I said. Kimahri followed me down into my dark, damp unfinished basement to the stack of folding chairs my parents kept there for holidays and company. I grabbed three, and handed Kimahri two.

"Kimahri stronger than Rebecca. Kimahri take more."

"No, I've got them. It's okay."

"Kimahri insist."

"Oh, alright," I said, handing him one of the chairs I was carrying and wondering if he was breaking some kind of record by speaking so many times.

"Kimahri like Rebecca." He gave me a big ronso smile.

"Uh, thanks," I replied, returning the smile. We headed upstairs with the extra chairs. Robbie was sitting at the table cursing in Hebrew again and jabbing at a palm pilot with the little plastic pen thing. The others were looking over, intrigued, and Ana was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes.

"This piece of shit keeps shutting off," Robbie whined. "How am I gonna call for pizza if I don't have the phone number!"

"It's called a phone book," I said, taking it out of the drawer, and throwing it into his lap. Sheepishly, he looked up Domino's and called the phone number.

"What's he doing? He's gonna get the pizza out of that thing, ya?" wondered Wakka aloud.

"No," said Tidus, sounding smug, "we had those in Zanarkand. You talk, and your voice gets recorded, sent down the wires, and plays in someone else's receiver. It goes really fast though, so you can just have a normal conversation with the other person. Robbie is gonna call the store, and ask them to bring the pizza here. Then, someone comes over with it, drops it off, and you pay them for it."

"How many do we need?" asked Robbie, covering the receiver.

"Well, we have ten people," said Ana, "and a large pie has eight slices. I think three pies will be enough. That gives each person two slices, and four people can have three. I call a third!"

"Make half of one a veggie, Robbie. Anyone else?" I asked.

"I'll decide after I find out what pizza is," answered Auron, looking skeptical.

"Everyone likes pizza," said Ana, as Robbie ordered the pizza. "It's like chicken. They have chickens in Spira, right?" Several people nodded. "Yeah. And everyone likes chicken."

"I don't like chicken. I'm a vegetarian, remember?" I pointed out.

"You are?" asked Yuna. "I've wanted to become one, but I've never had enough discipline."

"I'm a vegetarian," said Auron. I almost fainted. Auron was not only the ultimate Final Fantasy character, but he was a vegetarian, too. "All of the Spiran monks are."

"Dude, you're my hero," I said. Auron laughed.

"You can find a better hero than me, that's for certain." There was an awkward silence.

"That sounds great, thanks" came Robbie's voice, ending it. He hung up the phone. "The pizza will be here in half an hour," he said. "What should we do until then?"

"Play video games, duh," I said.

"Um," said Tidus. " before we do that, uh, where do you, ah, go to the bathroom?"

"I was wondering the same thing," muttered Yuna, her face going red.

"Um, that's alright," I said, equally embarrassed. "The, erm, facilities are upstairs, across from the guest room. You'll know what to do."

Tidus nodded, and he and Yuna headed upstairs, having a conversation. I didn't hear what they were saying, because Ana figured it was an appropriate time to change the subject. "How about we have a Super Smash Bros. Tournament? Those are a lot of fun."

"Yeah, I _love _that game," said Robbie. "And it's on the Gamecube."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Well, it'll take me a few minutes to plug it in, I have the PS2 in now." Everyone made himself or herself comfortable, sitting on the couch, the floor, and the kitchen step. I messed around with the wires. While I was untangling some AV cords, I distinctly heard from upstairs, "Wow, a flushing toilet! I haven't seen one of these babies since Zanarkand!" followed by numerous flushes. I just barely kept from yelling up the stairs, quit it Tidus, you're wasting water! By the time I got everything plugged in, Yuna and Tidus had come back and sat down in front of the TV.

I turned it on, chose "tournament" from the menu, and started entering names, while scattered conversations took place behind me. It felt so weird to put in "Auron" and "Kimahri" and know that Auron was sitting next to me on the floor, and Kimahri was perched on the kitchen step.

"Okay, I'm blue Kirby. Auron, you're next, who do you want to be?" The character choices were as follows:

Auron: red Link

Kimahri: Donkey Kong

Ana: blue Mario

Lulu: purple Yoshi

Yuna: Ice Climbers

Robbie: red Luigi

Tidus: Samus

Wakka: Fox

Rikku: Jigglypuff

Some of the choices struck me as a little odd, but I put them in anyway. The first battle was between me, Auron, Kimahri, and a bot. Ana explained the controls, and we took off. Kimahri was pretty bad, his furry hands were to big for the controller and his Donkey Kong kept falling off the platform by accident. Auron, however, was a lot better than I thought he would be. I left Kimahri alone and went at it with his Link for most of the battle. Neither one of us was knocked off. "Sudden Death!" cried the digital announcer.

"Hey, you're pretty good," I said to Auron. He just laughed. I barely managed to pull off a win in sudden death, something that should have been cake for a veteran like me facing a newbie like Auron, who had never played a video game in his life. He had been in one, I realized, and my stomach squirmed. I had almost forgotten about that, we were having such a good time. 

Just to give you the basic idea of how the tournament went, Ana bested Lulu, Yuna and a bot in the next round, then Tidus gained a shocking win against Robbie and two bots, and Rikku beat Wakka and two bots. Wakka was in a constant sate of shock, barely moving at all. He was muttering to himself about Yevon. After that round, Lulu took him out on the back porch to talk to him, while I beat Ana and Rikku beat Tidus. I let Rikku win, of course, just to be nice. She jumped around like a five year old, shouting, "oh yeah! I won! That'll teach you guys! Machina is _so_ my thing!" Ana winked at me, and we laughed.

"How much more time do we have before the pizza gets here?" she asked Robbie. He checked his watch.

"Any minute now," he responded.

"Hey guys," Ana said, "Um, we don't want to scare the poor pizza guy away, so can you make sure you don't answer the door with any weapons showing? Especially Auron and Kimahri. I don't want anybody pissing on my dinner in fright."

Auron managed to shift his cloak so that his sword was well covered, but Kimahri had to hide his spear behind the washing machine. 

After that, we all just did our own thing until the pizza came. Robbie went upstairs to check his E-mail and to try and IM Sam, telling him we would be over early tomorrow, and to try and get his parents out of the house. Rikku went with him, fascinated by the computer. "Don't let Robbie say anything mean to Sam," I told her. "They can't stand each other lately."

            Wakka and Lulu remained outside, talking. Kimahri took up his post, leaning against the sliding glass door. Auron, Yuna, Tidus, Ana and I sat on the couch. Ana and I told them about Sam, and the rest of our friends. Somehow, Ana, Auron and I got into a deep discussion about what a "big pungent pile of shoopuff shit" (as Auron described it) that some of the teachings of Yevon were. Yuna was looking increasingly uncomfortable, and Tidus finally noticed and offered to show her around and explain what all the machina in my house did. I zoned out just long enough to hear part of their conversation.

            "Why is this room so small?" asked Yuna, sounding perplexed.

            "It's a closet," answered Tidus, "come here, I'll show you what you do in it."

            Sufficiently frightened, I went back to trash-talking Yevon with Ana and Auron.


	5. It's Harder than you Think

            **'nother chapter! Man, I have no life. Anyhow, just getting the story to start rolling, bear with me. Thanks to all who reviewed, 'specially Saranomy for reviewing every chapter! Wind Runner: vegetarians rule! Oh, and for anyone who missed it, I'm going to camp for four weeks, starting Sunday, so don't expect any new stuff for a while after Saturday! Sorry, I'll really miss writing this, but I'll probably have loads of new ideas when I get back. Note: anyone know how to change my settings so I can accept unsigned reviews? If you do, my E-mail's lgreenleaf@patmedia.net! Thanks, and let's get on with it already:-) **

"Ding Dong!" rang the doorbell, just as my stomach had started grumbling. Man, pizza delivery is slow. Tidus answered the door. "Hello," he said cheerfully to the pimply teenaged pizza guy.

            "That'll be twenty-six bucks, dude," said the pizza guy, sounding bored.

            "Wow, twenty-six, that's it? We have got to stop buying food from Rin." Uh oh, I realized with a jolt. Tidus was going to try to pay the man with gil. I fished around in my pockets, but only found three dollars and thirty cents. My mom must have left Ma'am some money for food. I tried to think of where she might have put it.

            "Sorry, dude, we don't accept foreign money."

            "What?" yelped Tidus, sounding surprised, "What do you mean you don't accept gil?"

            "Tidus, wait a second," I told him as I fished around in the kitchen drawer. I found it, and realized I was screwed yet again. My mom had left three fifties. "Tidus, ask him if he has change for a fifty," I called, hopelessly, already on my way upstairs to find twenty-three more dollars.

            "He says no," Tidus called. Less predictable, however, is whether the sun will come out tomorrow, I thought, as I headed to my room.

            "Is the pizza here?" asked Robbie when I passed the computer room.

            "Oh yeah," I responded. "My mom left Ma'am food money in fifties."

            "Shit," said Robbie.

            "Well, come on, I need twenty-three more bucks, man! Help me look!"

            "I'll help too!" said Rikku excitedly.

            "Okay," I said, "we're looking for these." I showed Rikku a one-dollar bill from my pocket.

            "Roger," she said and started digging around. A few seconds later, she called, "one of these, with a number twenty on it?"

            "Rikku, you're a lifesaver. Three more to go." Ana came tearing into the room.

            "I have money in my duffle," she said, pointing to the navy blue bag in the corner that she had dropped off when we got back from the airport. She pulled a ten out of the side pocket and handed it to me. I took the ten and the twenty and ran downstairs.

            "Look," the pizza guy was saying, "are you gonna pay, or what?"

            "Here," I said breathlessly, shoving the money into his hands. "Sorry."

            He handed Tidus the pizzas. "You better be," he mumbled heading away from the house. I chased after him.

            "Dude, what about my change?" But he was long gone. I sighed, and turned around to face Lulu and Wakka, who had come around from the back to see what all the commotion was. "I just blew four bucks."

            We went back inside to find Robbie looking around for paper plates. "Cabinet on the left of the fridge," I told him, plopping down in a chair. I pulled the three fifties out of my pocket, and threw them on to the tray in the center of the kitchen table. "Damn, pizza is expensive."

            "You know, that brings up something important," said Lulu, taking a seat. "It may be tough to function with ten people in a house made for half that many."

            "Yeah," Ana sighed, "we all need to take showers, sleep, and eat you know."

            "Well," I said, as Robbie handed me a plate with a slice of veggie pizza on it, "There's the shower in my parents' bathroom, and we have a tub that can be used as a shower in the big bathroom upstairs." I sighed too. "That means if everyone takes a five minute shower, we should be done in around half an hour."

            "With no shampoo left," grumbled Robbie.

            "We'll just have to use it in moderation," Yuna said.

            "Robbie got Sam on IM!" chirped Rikku. "He said he could have his parents gone by seven-thirty."

            "Not bad, Sam," I murmured.

            "Why do you want to be at Sam's house so early?" asked Yuna. Everyone now had pizza. Robbie, Ana and I had dug right in, but everyone else looked at it distastefully, prodding it, and looking around at the others, daring each other to be the first one to take a bite. This made Ana exceedingly frustrated.

            "It's food, for the love of God! Just eat it! Look, I'm almost done with my first slice already, and I'm not dead! Eat the goddamn pizza!"

            "Ana is taking this as a personal insult," I explained, smiling a little.

            "Oh, this is ridiculous!" Lulu groaned. She took a huge bite of her pizza. "It's actually rather good." Everyone looked at Ana guiltily. She glowered back. Almost as one, the rest of them took a bite out of their slices.

            "Hey, Lulu's right. This is good stuff, ya?" said Wakka. Ana relaxed, satisfied that no one was dissing her favorite food. Soon, some people were heading over to the box for a second.

            Yuna repeated her question. "Why do you want to go to Sam's house so early?"

            "We want to try and get the game to work," said Robbie with his mouth full, spraying Rikku and Wakka.

            "Woa, take it easy man," said Wakka, shielding himself with his arms.

            "You still think we came from one of those games?" murmured Tidus. "Like the one Rikku won at earlier?"

            "Yeah, but yours was different," I explained. "The gamer has to guide you through Yuna's pilgrimage. Then, sometimes, you just watch, and it shows conversations and stuff."

            "I still think it was Sin," Tidus grumbled.

            "Keep an open mind," Auron told him. "The only things that are impossible are the things you tell yourself are."

            "Another lecture?" muttered Tidus, but Auron gave him the evil eye, and he stopped there. There was a long pause.

            Robbie, of course, ended it by wondering, "Where's everyone gonna sleep?"

            "Uh, well," I thought for a minute. Wakka got up to get another slice of pizza. There were four slices left. "Well, I guess Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu can share the big bed in the guest room. Uh, Robbie's gonna be in my brother's room, because his stuff is in there. Ana and I'll be in my room." I looked around. "That leaves Wakka, Tidus, Auron and Kimahri. You guys can bag where ever you feel like it." They looked at me, confused. "You know, sleeping bags." They understood. "I'll go get the sleeping bags from the garage. We need five, right? Me or Ana, Wakka, Auron, Tidus and Kimahri." Nods. "Okay."

            "I'll help this time," offered Yuna, and she followed me to the garage.

            "Here." I handed her two sleeping bags, and we headed back in. Wakka and Auron were having a pretty vicious sounding fight.

            "Oh!" cried Yuna breathily and ran over to break it up, dropping the bags on the living room floor. I followed suit. We were only in the garage for a minute, I thought. How can you start a fight in a minute?

            "The teachings say machina are forbidden! How can we atone for our sins if we came from one? It's not possible. Sin brought us here! All this machina must have…attracted it, because the teachings say…"

            "You'll just follow the teachings, no matter what they say? Have you not your own mind?" Auron growled. He seemed only slightly less pissed than he did in the part of the game where Seymour kills Kinoc. It wasn't pretty.

            "Maybe," Yuna cut in, "you are both right. I think the teachings have their…ups and downs, but Wakka, be reasonable! Machina can be used for good as well as evil. I do not think Yevon classifies video games as forbidden machina. It does not hurt anyone, and it is merely used for entertainment, like the blitzball stadium. Just try and go with the flow." Wakka sighed, looking drained.

            "You're right, Yuna. Sorry, Sir Auron. I just have trouble breaking teachings I've followed all my life." Auron nodded in acceptance. The two still seemed uneasy around each other as the talk shifted to blitzball, and we headed upstairs for showers. We decided to go in age order, youngest to oldest tonight, oldest to youngest if they were still there tomorrow night. I had a feeling they would be. For the first time in my life, I didn't have a plan.

            Showering turned out to be more difficult than I thought. Somehow, Kimahri managed to step on my T-shirt, leaving a big, wet, ronso footprint on the back. I had to dry it off with a blow dryer, while still in my towel and the pants I had been wearing that day. Tidus kept on "accidentally" walking in on Yuna. The thing about he closet came to my mind as I listened to, "sorry" "I can't believe I did it again." "Oh, you're showering in _this _bathroom." 

Robbie cut himself on Auron's sword, which had been unwisely left on the floor, Rikku didn't pull in the shower curtain and flooded the bathroom, soaking the clothes that she left on the bathroom floor, which I blow dried along with my T-shirt. Auron "accidentally" flushed on Wakka, who ran out of the bathroom naked, screaming about damned machina and clutching his scalded butt. He tripped over the cord of the blow dryer I was using to dry Rikku's stuff, and I tried my best to avert my eyes. Auron and Wakka obviously hadn't forgotten their argument from earlier.

Somehow, everyone managed to shower, and get back into dry clothes. I finished drying everything that had gotten wet, Lulu helped Rikku clean up the bathroom, and Yuna used cure to heal Robbie's cut. Ana, Robbie and I also slept in what we had been wearing that day, I guess because we wanted to fit in or something. Auron and Tidus were bagging with Ana and me, and Wakka and Kimahri went with Robbie. Ana and I flipped for my bed, but she won. I grumbled as I laid out my sleeping bag on the floor next to Auron's.

We talked a little, musing about how bad we were going to be a practice on Tuesday, and contemplating Sam's response to our situation. It wasn't long before I realized I was exhausted, and Ana, Auron, Tidus and I all agreed it was time to shut off the light. I fell asleep rather quickly, and didn't wake up once that night.   


	6. Sam's House

**New chapter! Thank you very much reviewers! I love getting reviews, so keep sendin' um.**

            When I woke up, the sun had just risen, but you could hardly tell, because the morning was so dreary and foggy. I don't mind rainy days. Perpetual sun gets on my nerves, so I was actually quite pleased with it. I looked at my watch. It was only 5:15 am. I rolled over and closed my eyes, just lying there. Once I wake up in the morning, I can't fall back to sleep, but I just usually lay around anyway.

About ten minutes later, I felt a poke in my side. I knew it was Auron, because he'd been sitting up when I had briefly opened my eyes to look at my watch. "You might as well get up. You've been awake for a while now."

"Come on Auron," I moaned, rolling over again. "What makes you so sure I've been awake, anyway?"

"Well," he answered, in a soft voice so as not to wake up Ana. He needn't have whispered though. Ana can sleep through a nuclear war, then get up and ask what's for breakfast. I assumed Tidus couldn't hear anything over his terrible snoring. He sounded like someone turning on and shutting off a vacuum cleaner. "You opened your eyes a while ago, your breathing is shallow, you aren't disoriented, and you knew I was awake."

"Fine," I grumped. "I'm getting up." I painstakingly got into a sitting position. I shuddered. It was freezing. I reached over and grabbed my "Hershey's" sweatshirt, which was hanging off the back of my desk chair, and tugged it on over my head.

"Nice hair," Auron said.

"Shut up," I grumbled, and, getting up, staggered over to the mirror on my wall. My brush was on the dresser in front of it. I picked it up and looked at myself. My hair was all over the place, but I fixed that easily with a few swipes of my brush. "I'm going to eat breakfast now. You coming?" Auron nodded and followed me downstairs to the kitchen. I groped around for something to eat in the refrigerator, and found last night's leftovers.

"More pizza?" said Auron, as I sat down, handing him a slice on a paper plate.

"Breakfast of champions." I took a big bite of my cold pizza. "Why the hell'd you flush Wakka last night? I thought you guys made up."

"First of all," said Auron, sounding just a touch defensive, "I had no idea he was going to run right out of the bathroom." I just gaped at him. That sounded like something that belonged on one of those things Final Fantasy characters would never say lists. Somehow, Auron didn't strike me as a practical joke type person.

"But it was my fault. I was being childish. Just as Wakka has trouble letting go of the teachings, I have trouble letting go of arguments." That sounded more like the Auron I knew from 300+ hours of Final Fantasy X.

"I get that," I told him. I still felt quite groggy, so I poured myself a glass of Coke. "Want some?" I asked Auron.

"No, thank you," he responded. I came back to the table and sat down with my Coke. "Why'd you make me get up?" I groaned, taking a large swig.

 "It's boring waiting for someone to wake up, and it can be especially infuriating when the person is already awake." He explained. "And we have to get going if we're to get to this Sam's house by seven-thirty."

"Good point," I muttered, "but it's only six o'clock." I threw my plate out and put my cup in the dishwasher. "That's where your reasoning all falls in, man. What the hell are we gonna do for an hour, assuming you don't want me to whip your ass in another video game?"

"I let you win," he answered, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Sure you did," I retorted. I sat back down at the table.

"So, you believe you know everything about Yuna's pilgrimage," Auron said, changing the subject abruptly.

"Well, 300+ hours, dude, I definitely know something."

"Do you know how it ends?" he queried. 

"Yes." I knew where this was going.

"Do you know…" he trailed off.

"Yes," I answered firmly. "And I swear I won't tell."

"Thank you," he said, and we lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Auron was an unsent. He was dead, but not gone. And until the end of the game, he's the only one who knows it.

"Well," I said, grinning, "with that said, would you like me to kick your ass in another game?"

He smiled back. "I'd like to see you try." And we played Mortal Kombat until Ana, Tidus, and Rikku came downstairs for breakfast.

"What are you guys playing now?" asked Tidus, coming to sit on the couch behind us.

"They're playing Mortal Kombat," answered Ana, pouring herself and Rikku cereal. "That game is nasty."

"Oh, come on, Ana. It's one of the only other multiplayer games I have," I groaned. "We have the blood off."

"Whatever," said Ana, but Tidus continued to watch, intrigued, until Wakka, Yuna, Kimahri and Lulu came down. "What happened to Robbie?" Ana asked.

"He's not awake yet. Man, that boy can sleep, brudda," replied Wakka.

"Shit!" I yelped, as Auron finally bested me two out of three.

"What? He can't have a little sleep?" said Wakka, sounding puzzled.

"No, sorry." I put down my controller and sat down at the table. "Auron just beat me in a match, and now I owe him fifty gil."

"How are you going to give him gil?" asked Lulu. "I thought you used different currency."

"We do. I beat him eight other times."

"You guys were gambling over a video game?" Ana said with a note of disgust. "Only complete nerds bet on video games." She groaned. "I'm surrounded by nerds and rpg characters. Should I fear for my sanity?"

"No," I retorted. "Cause you have no sanity."

Ana shrugged. "Good point." And she went back to her cereal. A few minutes later, we heard a big crashing sound as something came tumbling down the stairs. Robbie stumbled into the kitchen, moaning and rubbing his head. His eyes were slits, and his hair was sticking out in all sorts of odd directions.

"Good morning, sunshine," said Lulu, as Robbie knocked over his chair twice before figuring out how to sit in it.

"What the heck was in that pizza?" Tidus muttered. Wakka and Rikku rubbed their stomachs nervously.

"Nothing," I answered, before Ana could start biting anybody. "Robbie's just not a morning person. He's like this every morning, before he gets caffeine into his system." As if in response to this, Robbie loped over to the fridge, and started pouring himself a glass of Coke. He completely missed the glass, and ended up pouring it all over himself.

            "Here, let me help you with that," Rikku said, and she headed over to Robbie and helped him pour himself some soda.

            "Thanks," he croaked, and drank it all right then and there without even taking a breath. "I think I'll have some more." He poured himself another glass, and brought it to the table, looking better already.

            "We should leave at about ten after seven," I said, referring to Sam's. "He lives nearby, but we're walking, so we should allow some extra time."

            "I'll go change my shirt," said Robbie, looking a lot more alert, and slightly embarrassed.

            "Well, do it quickly, it's seven already," said Auron.

            "You have a train to catch, Auron?" Ana teased.

            "What's a train?" asked Rikku.

            "We had those in Zanarkand too!" Tidus squealed. "They ride around on tracks, and…"

            Robbie better hurry up, I thought.

            About five minutes later, we all headed outside. It was a chilly morning, especially for June. Robbie shivered. "I told you to bring a jacket," said Ana. "But noooo, Mr. Morning Glory has to be all macho."

            Robbie blushed, and gave Ana the evil eye. "Hey, at least I don't snore as loud as a shotgun."

            "No and neither do I," Ana retorted. "That was Tidus."

            "I do not!" shouted Tidus.

            "I thought that was Yuna," said Lulu. "She was definitely snoring."

            "Tidus also," said Auron.

            Wakka laughed. "You two are soul mates!"

            "Hey!" said Tidus and Yuna. We all laughed.

            "I'm gonna warn you guys," I said, as we passed my friend Hannah's house. "Sam isn't normal. He's really…Sam. You'll see what I mean."

            Hannah was outside watering her plants. "Hi!" she called, and came over. "Hi! Umm, Rebecca, these relatives of yours or something?" she asked, eyeing the Final Fantasy gang.

            "Uh…you could say that, I guess. Hannah, can we have a minute?"

            "Sure," said Hannah, confused. "I'll just go water the stuff by the fence."

            "Can I tell her the truth?" I asked urgently.

            "You trust her, ya?" asked Wakka. I nodded. "Then I don't see the problem."

            "Yeah," said Ana. "Hannah's cool, we can tell her."

            "And she'll believe us," I mumbled, then called, "Hey Hannah!"

            Hannah dropped the hose and came back over. I introduced everybody like you normally would. "Hannah, you know that game I love, Final Fantasy X?" I asked her.

            "Yeah."

            "Well they're from it."

            "What?"

            "They, uh, landed on my living room floor yesterday. Probably something to do with Sin…"

            "Woa, that is so cool!" Hannah jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "I knew this kind of thing really happened, I just knew it! Wicked sword!" she said to Auron, whose cloak had blown off it in the wind. He hastily covered it again. "So, are you like, going somewhere? Can I come?"

            "We're going to Sam's, to see if we can get the game to work in his PS2. It wouldn't work in mine, and we think that means something."

            "Um, I'll pass on going to Sam's, but I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow! Call me when you get home, maybe I'll come over or something. So that _was_ your babysitter running by yesterday. You have got to tell me how you got rid of her!"

            "We should get going," said Auron.

            "What've you got a train to catch?" taunted Hannah.

            "Auron, I'll tell you what a train is!" Rikku exclaimed, looking excited. Then her face fell. "Wait, you've been to Zanarkand already, haven't you?"

            "See you," I called, and Hannah waved and went back to watering her plants. We walked about six more blocks, random conversations ensuing all the way. Finally, we arrived at Sam's house. He was sitting out on his front porch reading a book and waiting. He jumped up when he saw us. "Ooh! It's Rebecca! Hi little 'becca." He came over and started rubbing my cheek. "And Ana banana! And, oh my God, is that Tidus?" he bellowed.

            "Sam," Robbie yelled, just as loud. "Do you want the whole street to know?"

            "Obviously, you both do," growled Auron.

            "I am not seeing Auron in my driveway," Sam said to himself. He waved his hand in front of Auron's face. "Well? Disappear! Disappear!"

            I waved my hand in front of Ana's face the same way. "These aren't the droids you're looking for," I joked. We laughed.

            "How are you laughing?" said Sam, looking genuinely distressed.

            "Sam," I said, managing to stop cracking up, "we need to try this game in your PS2. It wouldn't work in mine. It stopped working when they appeared, so I think the reason the game isn't working has something to do with that."

            "What are you going to do if it doesn't work?"

            "We're not expecting it to," said Lulu.

            "I guess we'll go down to Gamestop and buy another one," I said.

            "Well, come in." Sam gestured toward the door, and all ten of us trooped in. I handed him the game, and he ran into his family room to try it.

            "Grrr," he growled, shaking his fist at the screen. "Wooooork." The PS2 went to the browser settings screen.

            "I'm shocked," said Ana sarcastically.

            "I'll bite you!" Sam threatened the TV, pressing reset. It still didn't work. "Oh well," he said, handing me my game back. "I guess you're just going to have to go buy another one. Wait, if you chased away the babysitter, how are you going to get there. Enlighten me." Auron, Ana and I looked at each other, horrified.

            "I'll drive," Tidus offered. "I drove in Zanarkand.

            "What about Auron?" asked Sam. "Can't you drive?"

            "I have never tried," answered Auron.

            "Well then," said Sam, strait out, no laughing, "If you die, can I have your controllers?"

            "Sure."        


	7. An Unexpected Appearence

Sorry for getting this out a little slower than usual. I had, um, important business to attend to yesterday *hides new Zelda behind back guiltily* Oh, and sorry to all MK purists if I screwed up any fatalities. I get them confused between 2, 3, and DA. Well, this is a little longer than usual, so maybe that should make up for lost time. Now, back to work *takes popcorn and sneaks away*

            Oh, yeah and just in case you forgot, I do not own any part of Final Fantasy X, save a copy of it. I'm sure there are better people out there to sue than me.

_Dude, now I'm actually putting this chapter up. As most of you probably know, the site was down for two days. I'm leaving for camp in an hour. I almost beat Clock Tower 3. Got stuck on the end boss, and now I'm gonna have to rent it again, just to beat the stupid boss _

Back at my house, we all stood in the driveway, looking at Ma'am's car. "Nope, no way." I said. "We can't all fit in there. Six people max."

            "Six seatbelts doesn't mean six people," said Ana with an evil grin. "We can all squish in there, somehow."

            "I don't know," Rikku said. She hadn't been in any sort of hurry to get in a car with Tidus driving either.

            "No, she's right. We can do it," said Robbie. "Rikku, Yuna, Tidus and I can squish together in the front seat. Auron, Kimahri, and Wakka sit in the back. Ana, Lulu, and Rebecca, you can all just sit on somebody's lap."

            "Sounds good to me," said Tidus, hopping into the drivers seat. Rikku had retrieved the keys from the guest room when we returned from Sam's.

            "I don't know," said Wakka, frowning. "Sounds risky, ya."

            "Yes, it doesn't seem practical," Lulu hurriedly agreed. I don't think she was in any hurry to sit on someone's lap. Come to think of it, neither was I.

            "Why do we all have to go?" I asked.

            "I don't know about you," said Yuna quietly. "But I'd rather us all be together, if we, you know, find anything."

            "Oh alright," Rikku moaned. "Then I guess Robbie's method is the only way to fly."

            "Rikku, come on!" Lulu, Ana, Wakka and I groaned.

            "Have a little sympathy," begged Ana.

            Yuna was just barely keeping a strait face. "Sometimes, I suppose, we all have to do less pleasant things for the sake of a greater good."

            "Fine, you sit on someone's lap then," grumbled Lulu.

            "We'd better get going," Auron interrupted. "It's nearly nine o'clock."

            "Relax, Auron," Ana snapped. "Gamestop's not going anywhere."

            "Yeah, and neither are we," complained Tidus.

            "He's got a point, ya," Wakka agreed.

            "No!" Ana, Lulu and I yelled.

            "Don't be ridiculous," said Rikku. "We're all friends. It might even be fun."

            We looked at each other. "No!" Lulu, Ana, Wakka, Kimahri, Auron and I all shouted.

            "Don't even go there," said Ana.

            "That brings us back to our first topic which was, we aren't going anywhere," Robbie sighed.

            "What are we going to do? Stand here and argue all day?" Tidus prompted. Those of us who were sitting in the back came to a silent agreement.

            "Fine. However, let it be on the record that I think you are a complete shit head," I told Robbie, "and that I resisted submitting to your stupidity until it was at the point of give in or die. That is all."

            We climbed in to the car. In the front seat was Tidus behind the wheel, then Yuna next to him, then Rikku, and Robbie on the end. The back went Wakka, Kimahri, Auron, with Lulu on Wakka's lap, Ana on Kimahri's, and me on Auron's. Auron and I managed to work together and struggle into the seatbelt (and it wasn't the most pleasant thing I've ever done). Next to me, I saw Ana and Kimahri attempting the same feat. Wakka and Lulu just sat there, not looking at each other. "Ready?" Tidus called enthusiastically.

            "I don't think I ever will be," Auron sighed.

            "Great!" Tidus exclaimed, and stepped on the pedal. Lulu screamed and went flying into the back of Tidus's seat. Wakka bonked his head against the window.

            "You may want to buckle your seatbelt," suggested Rikku.

            Wakka looked at Lulu pleadingly. She muttered something under her breath, and pulled the seatbelt over herself and Wakka.

            "Are we really ready this time?" Tidus asked.

            "Yes," we moaned in unison, like a bunch of first graders in a classroom.

            "Let's go!" he yelled, and really stepped on the gas this time.

            "Tidus, take it easy," Yuna warned, as he backed the car over the opposite curb. We all lurched forward, and I thought Auron's knee had gone up my butt crack. I righted myself, only to be shoved back down again when Tidus went off the curb.

            Finally, we were on the road. Robbie gave Tidus directions, which he did a less than proficient job of following. "Left. LEFT. No, you're other left." Tidus zoomed along the road, tailing a couple of cars, and going through several lights as he went. He would have made a great Manhattan cab driver.

            At one point, a big guy that Tidus cut off rolled down his window, and gave us the finger. "Where'd you learn to drive, punk?"

            "Zanarkand!" Tidus replied. I hit my head on the window.

            "Oh please, let this be over soon," I muttered.

            Auron sighed. "Well, Jecht would be proud," he muttered back, as Tidus followed the example, and gave a slow-moving station wagon driver with two kids in the back the finger.

            After what seemed like years, but was really only a half an hour, we arrived at the mall. "Damn, that woke me up," I groaned, getting out of the car and rubbing my aching rear end.

            "Try being the one underneath," Wakka grumped, but he instantly withered under Lulu's angry glare. "So, where we going?"

            "Gamestop," answered Ana, getting out. Kimahri got out behind her.

            "Um, I think you'd better stay in the car, Kimahri," I told him.

            "Why?" asked Yuna, looking concerned.

            "We have some weirdos in Jersey, I'll admit," I explained. "But we definitely don't have ronsos.

            "Wait," wondered Yuna, "how come Hannah didn't notice him before."

            "Hannah is extremely smart, but she can be a little…absent minded at times."

            "Oh." Yuna nodded in comprehension.

            "Stay low," Auron advised Kimahri.

            "Kimahri will," said Kimahri, ducking below the window and shutting the car door.

            We walked toward the mall. Very few people gave us more than a passing glance. In the entrance, some nerds who walked by, undoubtedly back from buying new magic cards and war hammer models, exclaimed, "Woa, sweet costumes! Where'd you get 'em, Spencer's? Man, I love that place!"

            "Just keep your eyes down and pretend you don't see them," muttered Ana.

            We finally reached Gamestop. I pulled my discount card and one of the fifties out of my pocket, and walked over to the desk, the whole crew, minus Kimahri of course, in tow. "Hey, Marcus!" Marcus came over.

            "Hey!" he said, looking glad to see us. Marcus was the coolest Gamestop employee. He was the manager of this store. He would always sell me rated M games, even though I wasn't seventeen. Once in a while, he would even slip my brother or me a discount, especially when we bought a lot. He told me that he loved dealing with people like me, who really knew their games, and was able to tell him exactly what they wanted. "Man, am I glad to see you! I just got done helping a Grandma who was trying to find her ten-year-old Grandson a game for his birthday. She tried to buy him BMX XXX. I told her the kid wasn't old enough for that game. Hell, I don't even think _I'm_ old enough for that game!" He laughed. I laughed with him, as I pictured Ma'am riding around on a bike in a string bikini top and short shorts. Scary though it was, in her current mental state that was quite possibly what she was doing.

            He spotted the gang behind me. "Is there some kind of event or something? Where's Kimahri?"

            "He's waiting in the car," Rikku replied truthfully. Marcus laughed.

            "So then, Yevonites, what can I help you with today?"

            "Actually, we need a copy of Final Fantasy X," I said. "The cheapest possible one with no defects."

            "What? Didn't you already beat that one? Yeah, you did. I remember. I had to pay you twenty bucks because you beat it before me." Ana shook her head, the same expression on her face as the one she had worn that morning, when she found Auron and I betting on Mortal Kombat.

            "Yeah, I beat it. I was on my third time and it winked out on me. Probably because it was used."

            "Yeah, that'll happen sometimes," said Marcus, going to look for the game in the back. I sighed with relief. Thank God Marcus had been there today, that made my life so much easier. He came back and handed it to me. "Hey, my lunch break's in a few minutes. How about you guys just chill around here, then I'll treat you all to lunch, and I can whoop you in Mortal Kombat 3 over at the arcade."

            I silently poled all nine of the others. Their faces all clearly said, free food is way to good to pass up. "Sure. But I'll be the one whooping you. And Auron's not bad either," I said, motioning toward him. "He beat me once this morning. We were playing DA."

            "Oh, did you get Kitana in this one? She's mad awesome!" We carried on a conversation about Mortal Kombat, then E3 until it was time for Marcus's lunch break. "So, you guys want pizza, or gyros?"

            "Not pizza," we all responded simultaneously.

            "Okay," he said, a little taken aback. "But Ana, dude, you always want pizza."

            "I've had enough of it," she said simply.

            "Alrighty, gyros it is. But what are you going to eat?" he asked me.

            "I'll get a huge ice cream. That'll be lunch."

            "I will as well," said Auron. "I don't eat meat either."

            "Cool. Here, ten should be enough." He handed Auron the money, and then winked at us. "I got a raise after E3," he said excitedly. "I can buy almost twice the games I can usually afford now."

            "Sweet," I said.

            "Um, Well Auron and Rebecca will wait in line for their lunch. How about Robbie and, erm, Rikku, Wakka, and Tidus get a table, Yuna can find out what everyone wants, and Lulu can wait in line with me?"

            Everyone agreed with various phrases. I had a feeling why Marcus chose Lulu to wait in line with him. It was quite obvious, because he kept staring at the reason. "Man, he is such a perv," I laughed as Auron and I headed toward the Dairy Queen booth.

            "Perv?" Auron said, looking at me.

            "Never mind," I said, laughing again. Auron shrugged. We were attracting a lot of attention, but still, it was a lot less than I expected. I guess the mall's full of nutters, and most people just figured we were some more of them. However, Auron did get quite a few comments on his "sick costume" by Final Fantasy fans before we got to the front of the line.

            After ordering and paying, we headed over to where everyone else was sitting. "So," Marcus asked as we sat down, "is this part of some promotional event or something? Did you hook up with Rebecca, Ana and Robbie here?"

            "Yeah," answered Ana hurriedly. "Yuna over here is a cousin of Rebecca's, so she offered them a place to stay. There's going to be this huge rpg convention over in Trenton after the Jersey band regionals."

            "Really?" Marcus wondered. "I didn't hear about that."

            "That's because it's an exclusive Squaresoft, Konami, and Nintendo affair," Ana put in hurriedly. "Strictly invitation only. We were invited because we have connections." She emphasized the word, putting finger quotes up. Ana was an amazing liar when it was necessary.

            "Yeah, they did the, um, character voices," Robbie put in. Robbie is the second worst liar in the world, preceded only by yours truly.

            "Cool," said Marcus. "That explains a lot. I saw Seymour running around here earlier. Is he with you guys?"

            Tidus, Wakka, Yuna, Robbie and I all spit out our food and yelled, "you _what_?"

            "Um, chill guys. Is he like, a rival in disguise or something?" Marcus said, looking a little surprised at our reaction.

            "You could say that," Lulu said hurriedly.

            "A pretty awful disguise," Auron muttered under his breath.

            "What was that?" asked Marcus.

            "Never mind," said Auron.

            Nobody talked much after that. Robbie, who had never battled Seymour in the game and didn't quite understand the seriousness of the situation tried to start a few conversations, but they were half-hearted and short-lived.

            "So," Marcus ventured as we threw out our trash. "You ready for a beating?"

            "Sure," I said, trying to ignore the bad feeling that had settled in my stomach along with the cookie dough bits from my ice cream. "But it's going to be yours."

            We headed into the arcade and I spotted him, coming out of Hot Topic (where he would draw little to no attention). Marcus saw him too. "See," he muttered. "He's right there. But he was wearing the wedding outfit when I saw him before." Seymour was wearing what he wore for most of the game. I was less worried about how indecent his outfit was, than I was about how big he actually was. Frowning, I pulled on Auron's sleeve.

            "He's over there," I whispered. Auron looked quickly, and then he whispered back. 

"Pretend you don't see him, and he won't notice you. He's on a lower floor."

I obliged, and we entered the arcade. Marcus and I went strait to the Mortal Kombat 3 machine. Tidus, Auron and Yuna followed, as everyone else drifted around to find something they wanted to play. In our first match, Marcus gained a flawless victory against me. "What's up?" he said, performing his fatality on my character, which exploded. "You're gaming is sucky today."

That got to me. "You're gaming sucks everyday," I retorted, all attention now riveted onto the screen. The next match was the usual length of matches between experts like Marcus and me. After about twenty minutes, I finally won by performing an elaborate combo.

"You wanna set the stakes a little higher for this one?" he asked.

"How about the price of that game you just sold me."

"Let's rock."

This battle took nearly a half hour, but I won it, using my fatality to spear him on the spikes. "Pay up," I told him. Grudgingly, he handed over the thirty-eight bucks.

"You wanna play a few quick ones?" he asked Auron. Yuna and Tidus had since wandered away, and Tidus was now sitting in front of a driving game. Just what he needs, I thought, watching him hit several pedestrians.

"I'll try," Auron responded. Needless to say, the match went a lot quicker. However, in the second round, Marcus let down his guard, and as a result, ended up with his characters organs thrown on the ground. Marcus gained it back in the last round, where he tread a little more lightly.

"I win," he gloated. "But, I must admit, not a bad show for a guy who just learned to play."

Lulu came over. "We'd better get going," she said. "I'm not in any hurry to get back in that car with Tidus, but we've been at this…arcade for nearly two hours." The word "arcade" sounded weird coming from Lulu's familiar voice.

"Okay, we can round up the gang now," I said. "See you, Marcus!"

"Hey," he said, "call me if you can get me into that rpg convention. The boss'll love that."

"Sure," I said, following Auron and Lulu, who were gathering everybody up and getting ready to leave. I was finished concentrating, and beginning to feel a little jumpy again.

On our way out, we passed a guy with a blue mohawk. Just the sight of blue hair made my heart skip a beat.

Kimahri was asleep on the floor of the backseat when we returned. I felt sorry for him. He looked pretty lonely. We all got into position for the return journey. This time, everyone buckled their seatbelts.

The trip home was silent, save for one incident where we were bumped by the car behind us. This was not due to Tidus's driving improving, it was actually because he made a sudden stop at a red light. I slid right into Auron.

"You know, you're heavier than you look," he said, slightly winded.

"Watch it, or I'll fart on you." I threatened.  


	8. Two heads Suck Big Time

Hey, I'm back!!! Sorry for the delay, I had to go on a family vacation as soon as I got back *bangs head against wall* Camp was great though!!! There were some (okay, one in particular) very cute guys there. Anyhows, no one likes to listen to this shit, so on with the story….

"Seymour is here too," Tidus said. We all sat around the kitchen table, faces gloomy and butts sore from our trip to the mall. "This complicates things."

"And," I added, "we have band practice tomorrow at noon."

"That complicates things further," sighed Auron.

"And, if you want to get really depressed," Robbie said, "we complicated things even more with that whole rpg convention b.s."

"How?" Ana queried, raising her eyebrows.

"Marcus is going to ask questions about it. And Marcus is our only ride to band."

"Don't forget about me," said Tidus. I rubbed my sore ass.

"Oh, I didn't forget," muttered Robbie under his breath, "this golf ball sized lump on my head made sure of that."

"It's not my fault," Tidus protested. "In Zanarkand we drive on the other side of the road."

"Thanks for telling us that _now_," groaned Ana, rubbing her bottom.

"We can't be bickering now, we have important issues to attend to!" Auron cut in. He gave a meaningful look at Wakka.

"What are we supposed to do?" I groaned. "We have an arch-nemesis from a video game running wild in Hot Topic, the only one of us who knows how to drive thinks this is jolly old England, none of us are going to be able to sit properly for at least a week, and the smartest one out of the ten of us is blue, furry, and speaks about himself in the third person!"

"Why is Kimahri the smartest one?" asked Ana.

"Kimahri? I was referring to Robbie," I replied sarcastically.

"He's the smart one because the brudda tries not to mix with us!" Wakka exclaimed, hitting himself in the forehead.

The doorbell rang.

"You get it," Ana told Robbie.

"Why me?" Robbie whined.

"Because, if it turns out it's Seymour at the door, and you die, we'll be a step ahead instead of a step back," Ana said.

"Fine, fine, I'll get it," said Robbie, holding up his hands in an "I surrender" gesture.

It was Hannah at the door. "Hi guys," she said, walking in and sitting on the counter.

"You have impeccable timing," Lulu remarked. I could tell she was getting pissed off.

"What'd I walk in on this time?" Hannah wondered. At this point, the doorbell rang again.

"Shit," I groaned.

"Who would that be?" wondered Hannah.

"Maybe it's Marcus," I said, half trying to convince myself.

"I'm not getting this one," said Robbie.

"Neither am I," I chimed quickly.

This was followed by a chorus of variations on "Not It". It went on for a while until the doorbell rang again, and we decided there was only one fair way to handle this.

"Okay, on the count of three, we all run for the door, and whoever gets there first throws it open. No lagging, it's not fair. Okay, one…two…three!"

We all dashed for the door. Wakka threw it open, then quickly rejoined the group. We hovered in a big clump a meter or so away from the threshold. Anyway, you know how in scary movies this kind of thing happens, and it always turns out to be a false alarm? Well, in real life, no such luck.

We were looking at Seymour, who had just waltzed right over to my house, like he knew where it was the whole time. He actually looked rather bored.

"What do you want, Seymour?" Tidus cried sharply.

"Oh, nothing violent," Seymour assured us, "at the moment. I come now purely to inform you that I am here, and that on this world, I am twice as strong…" he laughed, "Maybe I will finally be able to help you see things my way."

"The day I give in to you is the day…" Auron started.

"Tidus wears pink boxers with little hearts all over them!" Ana finished. Tidus turned a deep red.

"Yuna wasn't supposed to know about those," he muttered under his breath at Ana. Seymour laughed. It was so loud it seemed to come from two people at once.

"Before I depart, allow me to introduce you to my new best friend," he said, gesturing behind us. I spun around, afraid to know what it was. Sure enough, another Seymour, dressed slightly differently stood on my back porch, visible through the sliding glass door.

"Well, that sucks," I said matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah," said Wakka.

"Well, it's not good, that's certain," Yuna said.

"You big meanies!" Rikku yelped. "I don't like you any better here that I do in Spira!"

"Well, who would?" said Tidus.

"Tidus," Auron warned.

"I mean, the tacky haircut…"

"Tidus…"

"The girly laugh…"

"Tidus!"

"The whole midriff-hanging-out thing…"

"TIDUS!"

"I mean, you could use a diet. Maybe that Slim-Fast thing they were advertising when Rebecca was plugging in the video games…"

"Tidus, you fool…"

Zap! Tidus was on the floor, knocked out by a thunderga cast by the now extremely pissed off Seymour. Rikku shrieked and jumped back from the lightning, cowering behind Yuna. "Holy crap, who pissed in your Ovaltine?" Robbie exclaimed. He soon joined Tidus on the floor after a blizzaga.

"I suggest the rest of you remain silent, unless you want more of the same!" Seymour exclaimed. Rikku whimpered. Hannah blinked, wide-eyed beneath her glasses. Most people would have been finished in this situation, but not me, because my friends have the best timing ever. Just then, Marcus pulled up in the driveway. He came over to the front door, where we all cowered back from where Tidus and Robbie laid. Of course, Robbie was snoring, and his drool was probably warping the wooden floor. I made a mental note to make him clean it up later.

"What the hell…" he said. Seymour scowled at him. Marcus raised one eyebrow, but thankfully remained silent.

"Just remember," Seymour said, turning to leave, "by no means have you seen the last of me. This is the beginning." Both Seymours walked away from the house, and disappeared, right into thin air.

"What was that?" Marcus asked, looking suspiciously right at me.

"Well, uh, you know those, uh, Jehovah's Witnesses," I stuttered. "They just get crazier and crazier every time."

"Since when did Seymour become a Jehovah's Witness?" Marcus asked.

"Well, Auron's a vegetarian," Ana said.

"Auron is a vegetarian?" Hannah sounded surprised.

"Would somebody mind telling me what's really going on here?" said Marcus irritably.

"We should tell him," sighed Auron. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

"These guys came out of my Playstation," I said sheepishly. "And apparently Seymour followed them, and found some way to, like, clone himself or something."

"I want to know what's really going on."

"That's it."

"What's it?"

"What I just told you."

"You expect me to believe that…aah!" Marcus leapt back as Lulu lazily threw a thunder spell at him.

"Do you believe us now?" She growled.

"Um…yes."

                                                                        *******

"Each one of us must take an apprentice and teach them enough to fight a Seymour. We need double the power, as he's somehow managed to double himself." Even Auron sounded anxious and worried. "I believe Rebecca has the most potential at my brand of swordsmanship, I'll take her."

"Hard as this is to believe, I think Robbie may have magic talent, so he's mine," Lulu groaned.

"Kimahri take Ana. She will be very good with spear," Kimahri said.

"Marcus, since you're all into machina and stuff, I'll take you," Rikku said.

"Great, I'm an apprentice to someone younger than me," groaned Marcus.

"Plug it, you big meanie," Rikku retorted.

"Anyone like sports, ya?" Wakka wondered.

"I love sports!" Hannah said, "and I'm good!"

"Sweet, I'll take you, then," Wakka said.

"I'll take that guy from this morning, Sam," said Tidus.

"Here, I'll go call him," Ana offered, getting off her chair and taking the phone into the hallway.

"Wait, we need a summoner, don't we?" asked Marcus. "Can you do it without a fayth?"

"Normally, no," Yuna replied. "But I believe that, in this world, it is possible. I can feel the fayth everywhere."

"Really, now?" muttered Robbie.

"So, who's it?" asked Hannah.

"Don't you have music practice tomorrow?" asked Yuna.

"Shit! I forgot about that," I swore.

"Well, I'll give you a lift," offered Marcus.

"Taken," said Robbie.

"Wait, why?" I asked Yuna.

"I'll come with you and see if I can find someone there."

Ana came back into the room. "Sam says he'll do it," she announced.

We had peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches for dinner. Marcus and Hannah went home after that, and we all took showers. Thankfully, this was much less eventful than the day before. Soon, we were all in bed (or in sleeping bags) and passed out. I couldn't sleep, but eventually exhaustion overtook my anxiety and I did fall asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.


	9. One Strange Summoner

**It took me a while to get this finished. We're back to school, and you know how it gets. Anyways, I'm going to try to update once a week, though I'm not making any promises. I should be done in about four or five more chapters, so stay tuned, the end draws ever nearer (insert evil cackle). Um, okay then. Enjoy^_^**

"Go to Hell, Auron," I grumbled, knowing automatically who was poking me awake.

"Hell?" Auron wondered aloud.

"Never mind. Just go away."

Auron didn't say anything. He just sat there looking at me.

"Fine, I'm getting up."

"That was easy."

"Screw you."

I stumbled to my feet, looking around the room. Ana and Tidus were both asleep, and Tidus was snoring deafeningly. I kicked him in the side. "If you're not careful, you're going to blow off the roof."

Tidus continued to sleep.

I kicked him again, just for good measure, then checked my watch. Nine o'clock. "How long've you been up, Auron?"

"Not long. Yesterday was a little much."

"So the 'man' does get tired, huh?"

"I suppose."

Lulu and Rikku were already sitting at the table when we got down, drinking OJ and eating cereal. "Well, look who overslept," Lulu taunted. Enter Ana through the door behind us.

"That's not fair, I was tired!" she protested. I laughed. We got our own breakfast of Poptarts ready, and joined Lulu and Rikku at the table.

"Imagine," said Ana, "if all villains did what Seymour did yesterday. Like, can't you so picture Darth Vader ringing the doorbell of the Millennium Falcon all like (insert heavy breathing), guys, you are so dead the next time I see you. Or Gollum. Sméagol will be taking the precious tomorrow. Please stand by. Oh, and Sméagol will have his evil personality, so get ready."

"What he did just didn't make sense," sighed Lulu. "Why would he warn us, and take away some of his edge."

"Because, he can't do it in the middle of a crowed neighborhood," Auron said, a note of "duh" in his voice.

"And why not?" I asked. "He didn't mind doing it in front of all the Guado."

"It must be something about his power. He needs a power source, and he's trying to lure us into an area he knows has one."

"But what?" Lulu wondered.

"And where?" added Rikku, who seemed quite sleepy and a good deal less hyper than usual.

"That is our quest," Said Auron.

                                                                        *********

Marcus sighed. "Your practice is at the high school, right?"

"Yeah."

"No, it's in Florida." Guess which one was me and which was Robbie.

"You're in a lovely mood," Ana said.

"I sure am. I'm always in a lovely mood. Screw you."

"How could I ever forget you're always in a lovely mood?"

"Maybe 'cause I'm being a bitch."

"Sounds about right."

"I'd insult you," said Marcus, "but you're doing a pretty good job of that yourself."

"Shut up!" I snarled. "I need caffeine."

"Now you know how I feel," Robbie said. I raised my eyebrows.

"Sheesh, I'll treat you if you'll just get out of this mood," yelped Marcus.

"I feel better already," I replied, and actually was considerably more pleasant the rest of the car ride. When we got to the high school, Marcus, true to his word, sprung for a soda and gave it to me. I was even more pleasant after that.

"Hey," said Hannah. "How's the flute solo thingie in the LOTR medley coming?"

"I had it almost perfect, but I haven't practiced since they showed up."

"Well, you'd better get on it, the concert's Saturday night."

"What!" I shouted, accidentally giving Hannah a face-full of Mountain Dew. It actually looked very funny. "Oh my God, come look at yourself in the mirror!" I guffawed, leading her by the wrist into the bathroom. She cracked up as well, and it only struck me how disgusting the entire situation was when Ana came in and pretended to puke in one of the toilet stalls. However, this only caused me to laugh harder, and harder yet when Ana, egged on by our laugher, took her barfing act a little too far, lost her balance and ended up with her face in the toilet. Now _that_ was disgusting! Enter a very frightened looking Yuna.

"Um, someone named Allen is looking for you and Hannah, Rebecca," she murmured. "He wants to practice the flute trio, or something like that."

"Uh, just a second," I stuttered, helping Hannah and Ana paper tower their faces. When they were as dry as possible, Hannah and I met Allen in an empty classroom to practice. We sat on tables and used the blackboard as our music stand. Before we started I asked, "What do you mean the competition's on Saturday?"

"It was moved up because of a thunder storm watch. It's supposed to be a big one. My mom said she heard your families were coming back early."

"They didn't tell me that!" But, then again, every time they called I had said, "Hi Guys. I'm alive. Sitter's sleeping. Gotta go practice, bye," and slammed down the phone before they could get a word in, so this was understandable. On the other hand, it wasn't my fault the cast of Final Fantasy X decided to drop in on me. On the other hand…wait, I was sounding like Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof. That was not good, as I do not view him as a role model. Sam did, though. He liked his shimmying. Sam is the weirdest person I will ever know.

Because all this was running through my mind, I made more than a few mistakes. "Sorry guys, can we start over? I kind of zoned.

"I was hoping you'd zoned, that sucked," Hannah remarked.

"I love you too, Hannah," I muttered sarcastically.

"One, two, three," Allen counted off. This time I concentrated, and made very few mistakes.

"That was good," Allen said, his trademark odd smile proudly worn across his face.

"Hey, guys." Yuna and Ana entered the classroom. "We've got to go, band is starting."

"Yay," said Allen, actually meaning it, but not jumping or shouting or anything. Yuna glanced at him, then sort of examined him, her eyes scanning up and down. Maybe she wanted Allen as her summoner? He was kind of, well, weird, and I wasn't sure exactly what to think of it. I shook it off quickly, and put away my flute in a hurry. Together, we headed toward the band room.

"Hey, guys!" Mrs. Archer said, checking our names off on her role sheet. "Well, I think that's everybody! We're starting with "In the Mood", then we're doing the "Imperial March", LOTR medley, and finishing up with "A Little Help from my Friends!" Mrs. Archer, being a band teacher, always spoke very loudly and enthusiastically. I headed back to the bells for "In the Mood". "This is our opening guys, so we've got to make it nice and strong!" She tapped her baton on the music stand in front of her. "One, two, three."

"In the Mood" was probably our most difficult piece after Lord of the Rings. For this, it sounded pretty good, but it wasn't perfect, and definitely not competition ready. There were numerous errors in the trumpet section (the funniest of which involved a boy named Kristian accidentally hitting the spit valve, and spraying the girl in front of him) and I wasn't doing perfectly on the bells either. Ana asked how she was doing on bass, and I had to tell her that, quite honestly, I had been too worried about myself to notice anything but the hugest mistakes. Mrs. Archer had to stop us numerous times, and she seemed pretty glum by the end of the song. "We only have four more days and one more practice, so I expect that to be perfect by Thursday. Come on guys, you can do this! We can win this thing! You just have to practice." Robbie and I exchanged guilty looks. "I've heard the other bands, and we have the most challenging music, and the best musicians! You guys can make this perfect!" She sighed, but then quickly smiled, "Okay, you guys wanted this one so badly, so show me what you can do!" Playing the "Imperial March" was sort of a joke Hannah, Ana, our friends Dave and Shane, and I had come up with when Mrs. Archer consulted us on the music. It was "recommended" that your band played one march. We decided we were sick of the military stuff, and wanted to do Darth Vader's theme instead. Finally, Mrs. Archer agreed but made us swear to have it perfect.

She was not disappointed. The dangerous sounding music reminded me of Seymour walking up to our front porch, and seemed appropriate for my shadowy mood, so I did very well on the snare drum, making no mistakes. The plain white drumhead stared up at me, teasing me to get intimidated and miss a beat, which was so easy to do in a march with such a fast tempo. Because of my mood, this only made me hit it harder, louder, and with more feeling. I felt so confident. This is what I did. I didn't wield a sword, or cast magic. I made music. I managed to carry this feeling into the Lord of the Rings Medley, in which I switched to flute. The music flowed from it like a gentle waterfall, not matching Hannah and Allen as usual, but leading this time. No mistakes. A Little Help from my Friends (a Beatles song, for those of you without culture) shook me out of my deep concentration, as it was an easy, fun little piece that Mrs. Archer said would help us go out with a bang.

Yuna came up on the stage after Mrs. Archer told us we could pack up. I was still grinning from the last song as I cleaned and packed up my flute and drumsticks. "That was beautiful," she said. Ana and Robbie came up behind her. 

"Thank you," said Allen with a smile, as he cleaned the outside of his flute. "Old faithful never lets me down, do ya?" he said, speaking to the flute. I raised my eyebrows, but I was used to Allen's weirdness, so I just snapped my flute closed and got up.

"Allen," started Yuna. This time my eyebrows went up and stayed up. I silently poled the others, and saw identical looks of surprise on their faces as Yuna explained our situation to Allen. It was now _his _turn to raise his eyebrows.

"You want _me _to summon? I don't know if I can…"

"I wouldn't have chosen you if I didn't think you could do it." She said.

"So, Allen, I guess I'll see you at my house tomorrow at eight," I said tentatively.

"Sure," he replied, still looking a little uncertain.

"Here, check this out." I took out my flute and played the hymn of the fayth on it. I spent almost a day working out all the notes perfectly. My parents agreed that I had no life, and threatened to kick me out of the house if I played it one more time. Turned out they weren't kidding. I spent the night at my Grandpa's house.

"You can play the hymn?" Yuna gushed, sounding pleased. "Oh, it's so beautiful!" I taught Allen how to play while he was waiting for his Dad. Marcus picked us up shortly after Allen left.

"So, did you get a summoner?" He asked Yuna.

"Yes," she responded with a smile.

"Do I know her?"

"Him, and no," Ana informed him. The rest of the ride was more or less silent, albeit Robbie falling asleep and beginning to snore. Marcus had to put a plastic bag under his mouth to keep the drool off of his seats.

"Well, bye then," said Marcus as he pulled into our driveway.

"Bye," I said back. "Thanks for the lift."

"Yes, thank you!" Yuna said quickly

We headed inside. Kimahri, Tidus, and Rikku were watching Star Wars, and the Imperial March was playing, which made me smile. "John Williams is a genius," I said, settling down next to them. "Worship him." Rikku hopped up and did a Yevon bow at the TV. "Erm, I didn't mean that literally."

"I thought he was Darth Vader," said Tidus, pointing at Vader on the screen.

"Forget it. What's everyone else doing?"

"Auron is doing something in your room, and Lulu and Wakka are both upstairs reading."

"That's cool."

"Hey, is that John Williams?" said Rikku enthusiastically, pointing as Yoda hobbled around his kitchen.

                                                                        ************

  I found out after dinner what Auron had been doing. As we were about to get into bed, he said, "Rebecca, I have something to show you," he pulled a long, broad sword out from under my bed, "I've been working on this all day. It can pierce through the armor of the toughest fiends, and it's both large and light, so you should have no trouble wielding it. I also gave it a little bit of magic, so it should give you strength when you need it." He smiled.

"S.O.S. curaga? I didn't even know that existed!" I was shocked, because I'd never heard of it in the game, and remember, I have no life, so I thought I knew every item ability and customization option in the game.

"It's never been done before," he said with a half smile. "Lulu helped me invent it."

"I wish I had this when I was battling Je…um, the last boss. Then I wouldn't have needed all those extra aeons!"

Auron's smile went full blown. "Wield it well, I'm glad you like it. Now get some sleep. With me as your teacher, you're going to need it."


	10. Boot Camp

Here it is mates, a new chapter. Sorry about the shortness, but I'm really trying to move the story along. I also started another fic, it's in the Pirates of the Caribbean section, so I'm going to have to switch off between the two. Just had to get this chapter finished and posted, so here you go, read and review!

**Oh, and a reminder for you: I still don't own it, goddamnit!**

"Normal people sleep, Auron," I grumbled, hearing the rustle of the sleeping bag as Auron came over to wake me up.

"You are not so normal," Auron replied. Even though my eyes were shut, I could just see the smirk on his face.

"Everyone talks to themselves, Auron. I just do it in public."

"Whatever you say." 

He then proceeded to literally dump me out of my sleeping bag, picking up the end and shaking it until I came out. I plopped onto a snoring Tidus, but once again failed to wake him up. Ana, however heard the noise, and a groan issued forth from her. As soon as she was able to form a coherent sentence, she said, "oh loo ell, O-en!" Well, a semi-coherent sentence. She had another go at it. "Go to Hell, Auron!" she moaned.

"Where is Hell, anyway?" Auron wanted to know, standing over me with a suspicious look on his face. When I pretended to have fallen back to sleep, he prodded me with his foot. This hurt, as he had never taken off his shoes.

"Just tell her, 'I'll meet you there'," I moaned, getting up before I got another boot toe in my gut.

"Whatever you say." Auron shook his head and offered me a hand up. I took it gratefully. Ana was already standing over me.

"Hang getting dressed for now," she said, looking down at herself. "I don't want to have to worry about washing clothes. We don't smell or anything, right?" She sniffed herself. I pretended to throw up. Behind me, Auron chuckled a little. "What was that?" Ana asked me, looking up as I quickly composed myself.

"Oh, nothing," I said in a voice that I hoped was innocent. "How about breakfast then?"

The three of us were heading downstairs when we heard Tidus mumble, "Hey, what fell on me?"

                                                                        *********

Hannah was the first to arrive. Clutching a wrapper from a granola bar she presumably ate for breakfast on the way over, glasses slightly askew, and wearing two different shoes, she looked like she had woken up three minutes ago. Which she most likely had.

Wakka handed her a blitzball. It had magic counter and attack counter built into it, and spikes all over it increased her damage capability by quite a bit. "Cool!" She said taking it, throwing it up into the air, and trying to make a smooth catch, but instead she completely missed it. The blitzball fell on the floor and shattered a tile.

Yuna fixed it with a quick spell, and I was reminded forcefully of the Harry Potter books. In the game, they had never used spells outside of battle, so it felt weird seeing Yuna magically repair a tile.

Next came Allen. "Sam was behind me," he gasped, having run the entire way. "But I was faster than him! Ha ha ha!" Yuna quickly engaged him in conversation as the rest of us braced ourselves for Sam to arrive.

"Good morning!" he said enthusiastically. "Where's Tidus?"

"Right here!" Tidus replied, attempting to match Sam's gusto. "Look. This is my old sword. It increases your strength and speed, and Auron helped me add an S.O.S haste for extra speed when things get tough! Is that not so cool?"

Sam cocked an eyebrow. "That's great. Now, how am I supposed to use it?"

"I'm going to teach you," said Tidus proudly.

"Wonderful," Sam muttered.

Lulu gave Robbie a moogle with deathstrike that powered up magic. "It won't work on Seymour, though. He will have found a way to make himself immune to killing magic."

"He can't die?" Robbie sounded extremely worried.

"No, he can definitely die," Lulu said dryly. "Just not in one hit."

Ana received a spear from Kimahri that gave her both strength and defense. It also had poisonstrike, which Kimahri assured her would work on Seymour.

Finally, Marcus arrived, and was presented with some kind of clawed glove by Rikku, which was a very basic weapon, but we all knew where Rikku's true strength lie. "We're only gonna do a little with this. What we're really going to work on is items. It gives the enemy a big surprise, and that's always good, you know?"

The fourteen of us stampeded out the sliding glass door into the backyard.

I followed Auron over to a corner of the backyard near the woods, and looked at him expectantly. "Well, then, are we gonna get started here, or what?"

"I suppose we'll start out with a basic hit," said Auron. "Like this." He started by lifting the sword up near his shoulder, much like a baseball bat. Then, he simply brought it down onto a large log in front of him, slicing it neatly in two. "Now you try." I took up my sword, but Auron raised his hand to stop me. "Use my sword. If you learn with the heavier one, you'll be much better with the light one, and you'll have more endurance." I nearly laughed at the thought of me having endurance. My idea of exercise was a fast fighter with lots of button mashing. I took the sword anyway, and stood there waiting for further instruction. "Get into a ready position," Auron said. I tried to mimic his baseball-like stance. He looked at me, moved my arms and legs slightly, and gestured toward the log. "Now just bring it down, not too hard, but hard enough." Okay, I thought. I can do this.

I brought the sword down, using all the power my skinny little gamer arms could muster. Completely missing the log, I was carried forward by the sword's weight and my own momentum, and sort of slid/tumbled down a short hill, ending with my blade stuck high in a tree. I hung from it, my toes just brushing the dewy grass, for a few seconds, letting go and dropping onto my feet when I saw Auron heading over to help me. I tried pulling it out, but it wouldn't move an inch. "It's stuck," I told Auron, giving it another yank.

Auron grabbed hold of the hilt behind me. "On three. One, two, three!" we both pulled with all of our might, freeing the sword, but ending up in a tangled heap on the sodden grass.

"Ouch," I said, and started to laugh. From under me, Auron laughed too.

"And that is the danger of using a heavy blade," he said. "Okay, try it again, but this time with more control. Try to resist being pulled down by it."

An hour and many tries later, I was able to mimic Auron almost perfectly. Looking pleased, he told me I could have a quick break, and then we would perfect the basic attack and work on blocking. Sitting down on the chopped-up log, I looked around to see how the others were fairing.

"Not to much, okay good," said Lulu, overseeing Robbie as he cast a fire spell.

"I have to use careful amounts for certain enemies, right?" Robbie said, sounding like he was concentrating very hard.

"No," said Lulu, picking something up off of the grill where he was casting it. "Just when you make me toast."

I looked over at Hannah, who was throwing the blitzball into a hoop Wakka had hung from a tree. Wakka sat carefully out of range, watching her and nursing a large bump on his head.

Sam and Tidus were having an intense looking sword fight. Just when it looked like he was about to lose, Tidus dropped his pants, startling Sam, and disarmed him. This left me feeling immensely disturbed.

Ana attacked the same small tree over and over again, while Kimahri nodded his approval. Without warning, Ana got an especially good hit, and the tree fell right on top of Kimahri, winding him. He was lucky it was a small tree.

It appeared that Rikku had just finished teaching Marcus how to use the claw weapon, and had moved on to items. She held a grenade in her hand, showing him. Then she pulled the pin and threw it. Thankfully, Yuna had set up some kind of protective shield around their area, but it didn't stop the noise. It went off with a bang as loud as several firecrackers.

"What in damnation?" my next-door neighbor shouted.

"Sorry, Mr. C," I yelled back. "I didn't realize the stereo was up that loud!"

"Damned kids and their damned rock music," he muttered, slamming his window shut. Lulu went over and cast a silence shield around them as well, and they resumed practice.

Finally, I looked over at Allen. He was bent low, deep in concentration. He hadn't changed position in a long time. A silver staff lay across his knees, and his head was pointed skyward, eyes shut tight. Yuna looked on encouragingly, but said nothing. He hadn't even fluttered an eyelid when the grenade went off.

Sighing, I went back to my sword practice. This was going to be a rough few days.

                                                            **********

Finally, Auron declared it was time to pack it up and go in for dinner. At that point I had learned to defend, and do power break and magic break. Robbie proudly proclaimed he had learned level two elemental spells, bio, and demi. Allen had finally stirred a few minutes ago, looking very tired, but very proud of himself.

"Can you wait just a second. I want Allen to summon his aeon. We all gathered up our weapons, and stood around Allen in a circle to watch. He danced and swung the staff gracefully, eyes closed the entire time. Raising the staff, he ended the summon. The best way to describe it was that the sky split open, and out tumbled Valefor, powerful and majestic in a way that you have to see to understand. It landed next to Allen, who stroked it gently, whispering to it.

"You're all I need, Valefor. We'll beat him, you and me, together."     


	11. The Agony of Victory

Sorry, sorry, sorry for the long delay. School, it seems, has finally caught up with me. The next chapter is definitely going to be the last one. Thanks to all who reviewed, I may not have even finished this if you didn't make me feel so guilty ^_^ I hope you didn't all forget about me!!!!! Anyway, here it is, the long awaited chapter eleven.

There was little talk around the dinner table that night. Everyone was tired and sore, and everyone was also afraid to complain about having pizza again, fearing an assault by the now well-armed Ana, whose spear leaned against the refrigerator. I hurt in places I didn't know existed. Everyone had gone home save for me, Robbie, Ana, and the Final Fantasy crew. The responsibility of practicing for the competition now hung heavy on my shoulders. Maybe that's why they felt like falling off whenever I moved them. Groans issued forth from everyone but Auron and Kimahri every time we moved. This resulted in my kitchen sounding like the inside of a lawnmower.

Ana, Robbie and I had intended to practice after dinner. This was very obviously not happening. Even bending my fingers around an instrument seemed like painful medieval torture. Instead, we all flopped on the couch and watched "The Producers" on TV. This proved to be almost as painful, as "The Producers" is a funny movie. Every time I laughed, I felt like my rib cage would crack. We were at the part when they were having auditions for Hitler when the phone rang. "Somebody has to answer that," groaned Ana, "and it's not going to be me."

Cue chorus of "me either".

"I think Rebecca should get it," said Robbie. "This is her house."

"Screw you," I said, and laboriously rose from the couch. Not thinking, I picked up the phone and mumbled, "Hello?"

"Rebecca?" The voice in the receiver was my mom's. Shit.

"You know, we were just going to sleep. I think I'd better go. We're all alive. Bye." But my sore finger was too sluggish in hitting the "off" button.

"Not so fast. It's only 8:30!"

"Early to bed, early to rise," I replied.

"Funny, you've never thought that before," she said suspiciously.

"Yeah, well I've just adopted a new philosophy."

"Really!" she said. "So what have you guys been up to?"

"Setting fire to small children in the park. You know, the usual," I answered sarcastically.

"I'd like to speak to the sitter," she said flatly.

"She's sleeping."

"Wake her up."

"Okay," I squeaked. "Just a second." I set the phone down on the counter, and walked toward the living room. "Who can do a really, really good old lady impersonation?" I asked.

"She wants to talk to Ma'am?!" Ana cried.

"Now," I groaned.

"Give me the phone," said Lulu. "I'll do it."

"Um, alright," I said, and ran to get the phone. Only my legs felt like lifeless bags of sand, and I ended up on the floor. I eventually managed to stagger my way into the kitchen, retrieve the phone, and deposit it safely into Lulu's hands.

"Thank God they haven't invented video phones yet," whispered Ana. Lulu ignored her. We all leaned in, listening intently to Lulu's end of the conversation.

"Yes. Yes. Oh Yes. They've been darlings. Yes. Of course. Every night!" she said, doing a surprisingly good imitation of Ma'am. After what seemed like an eon, she wished my mother farewell and hung up.

"Well," said Robbie, "that was close."

"I think we've had enough excitement for today," Auron said gruffly. "Let's go to sleep." We all agreed to this notion. Somehow, we all managed to crawl up the stairs, into the shower and back out again, and into our beds and sleeping bags with no major incidents. This was quite a relief, as no one was ready to deal with anything. I seriously hated Ana for having my bed. Falling asleep was incredibly easy; it was staying asleep that was the problem. Every time I rolled over, I woke up in a great deal of pain. Somehow, I eventually managed to drift off into a deep, uninterrupted sleep around midnight. I was so tired not even Tidus's snoring could wake me.

                                                                                                ********

Rain pelted down against the windows like enemy fire, and thunder cracked and boomed like enemy bombs. I was in a large room, on some kind of raised platform. A stage, I realized. The stage was full of chairs, arranged like someone was about to play a concert. My first thought was, Oh my God, did I miss regionals? My second thought was, holy shit.

Because in each chair sat an identical Seymour.

With a soundless scream, I drew my sword, only to realize that it was Auron's. _I _was Auron. No, wait. I was only dressed like him. Looking around, I noticed my friends in similar garb, dressed like the person who had trained them. Turning back toward the Seymours, I saw only one. I looked around. We were no longer on a stage. We were in a room with a large furnace, and a tiny window. Through the window, I could see that it had started to hail. The glass threatened to shatter with every golf ball sized chunk.

Seymour spoke taunting words that I could not recall, and raised his arms as if to do a spell. Screams erupted all around me. Weapons were raised. I realized I was screaming too. Screaming, and running toward Seymour with everyone else. I felt a sudden rush. The attack was perfect. I was going to seriously hurt him. My blade was inches from his body and…

I woke up, screaming and sweating, writhing in my sleeping bag.

The first thing I remembered was my soreness. Though not as bad as it had been last night, the pain still shot threw my body like electricity. Then, I realized that I had not been the only one screaming. I could hear Ana's, Tidus's and Auron's voices dying on their lips, even as my own cry faded. I wanted to turn, to talk to one of them, but a sudden, extreme drowsiness overtook me, and I stopped tossing and turning and laid in a stillness and silence so heavy it was like I was drugged. I fell into a deep sleep, and did not wake up again until 9:30 the next morning.

                                                                                                ********

"So, everyone had the same dream last night?" inquired Lulu. We were sitting around the breakfast table eating cheerios. Some of Robbie's were still stuck to his face from when he fell asleep in the bowl. It had taken an entire liter of Mountain Dew to revive him.

"That's what it sounds like," said Yuna. She seemed nervous and fidgety that morning.

"Do you think it, you know, means anything?" Rikku wondered.

"Most likely," said Auron. "But, even more likely, we won't know the meaning until the events are actually unfolding."

"Isn't it obvious?" said Robbie. A cheerio fell off of his upper lip and landed in his bowl with a plop. "We're going to fight Seymour. All of us. The apprentices all saw each other, and the, you know, originals all saw each other. We should take one Seymour each."

"But, if Seymour's intention was to fight all along, why not get us when he came here, or at the mall, or any other time this week?" I pondered. "It just doesn't make sense."

"No," said Auron. "It doesn't."

"Well," said Ana. "We'll cross that icy bridge when we come to it. Meanwhile, Robbie and Rebecca and I really need to do some practicing for the competition."

"And we'll need to do a light review of fighting skills this afternoon," said Auron. This was met with many groans.

"I could barely even get down the stairs this morning," I complained. "And you want me to practice _fencing_?"

"You'll feel better in the afternoon," said Auron. "You'll see."

"The only thing I want to see," grumbled Ana "is an extra strength Tylenol." _This_ suggestion was met with hearty agreement.

So, we all popped a few pills, and then Robbie, Ana and I hit the music. Everyone else insisting on listening. I had to admit, we were sounding pretty good. If we could just pull it all together by tomorrow night, we would win for sure. After the practicing, we called everyone up, and told them to meet at my house at six for a little practicing. There was little enthusiasm (with the exception of Hannah) when it came to this. Marcus hadn't even gotten out of bed when we called him. We had a good couple of hours for lunch, and some good old fashioned bumming around, including video games, TV, and reading funny stories on the internet. Finally, everyone came over, and we went out into the yard. I found that Auron had been right, and my soreness was almost gone when I picked up the sword. After a bit of practice, he let me use my own, lighter sword. He had been right again. With the new sword, my attacks were more or less perfect, and I even managed to learn armor break and mental break. Auron seemed pretty pleased with my progress. The training for everyone went well over all. There was little injury, and, thankfully, everyone kept their pants on at all times. The only incident involved Hannah accidentally hitting a squirrel with her blitzball, and Wakka having to give it CPR. Suffice it to say that this was hilariously funny. Since Wakka was so much larger than the squirrel, it looked like he was eating its head, therefore earning him the nickname of Ozzy.

After we were all done, and the sun was beginning to set, the Final Fantasy crew gathered us all under the old swing set. I was forcefully reminded of baseball pep talks. "You have all done well," said Auron, "and I think that you are all ready for the trials that await you."

"Even Robbie and Hannah?" joked Ana.

"Even Robbie and Hannah," replied Lulu.

"As long as she doesn't hit any more squirrels," added Wakka. We all laughed.

"We'll meet again at 5:00 tomorrow," said Auron.

"Everyone's going to the concert, right?" said Tidus. Nods of consent. "Oh, good. Then I'll just drive everyone over."

"How about we take the bus?" said Sam. I mentally slapped myself in the face for not having thought of that one.

"All right," said Yuna. "I have a feeling this competition is going to be the point where it all ends. The rows of chairs, the Seymours…"

"There's a severe storm watch on for tomorrow night," said Sam.

"So everyone meet here," said Wakka, "and we'll take the bus over to the competition after we practice. We'll bring the weapons, just in case. Maybe Seymour's just waiting to go out with a bang, ya?"

We all said our goodbyes, and those who needed to go home departed. The usual suspects remained. We had dinner, went to bed, and woke up the next morning. Saturday came, grey and gloomy, with the threat of rain. We were practicing for the competition when the skies finally opened up. It was only 3:30.

"We have to go out in this?" asked Robbie, a note of misery in his voice.

"Put on a raincoat," said Tidus, as Allen rang the doorbell. 


End file.
